“Platooning” of freight trucks involves connecting a number of autonomous trucks with state-of-the-art driving support systems to improve safety and fuel efficiency. Each truck closely follows the other in a connected convoy, as Scania is testing in Singapore, Volvo is piloting the concept in Europe (already home to the annual Truck Platooning Challenge) and Tesla is testing in California and Nevada.
The concept is far more likely to be a reality on America’s stretches of highway than completely self-driven personal automobiles in the near future. Daimler is staking its corporate brand on becoming a leader in that vital aspect of the future of the transportation business, and has been testing its platooning trucks in Oregon and Nevada.
Daimler sees “the fully connected truck as a success formula for companies, drivers and society. Networking generates safe, smooth transport flows and autonomously driving in a convoy (so-called platooning) saves fuel and reduces traffic.”
At the North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta, the Germany-based automotive giant with huge US operations revealed that it is now testing connected trucks in platooning operations on public roads in Oregon, afer receiving “appropriate permission” from the Oregon Department of Transportation.
In a first step called “pairing,” Daimler Trucks North America is testing its platooning method in two connected Freightliner New Cascadia truck-trailer combinations.
Daimler started with successful trials at it North America proving ground in Madras, Ore., in which connectivity and automated driving are designed to improve safety within vehicle convoys, support drivers and enhance efficiency through closer distances between connected trucks.
Another goal is to save money by allowing more freight to be moved by fewer drivers, a reality at a time when the trucking industry is having a hard time hiring and keeping enough truck drivers.
“Platooning technology is not meant to replace drivers—it’s designed to help drivers,” stated Daimler Trucks North America president and CEO Roger Nielsen. “Right now, we are driving Freightliners in platoons every day. I have personally driven one of our trucks in a connected mode. My experience has been impressive.”
Despite such results from the technology, however, it still may be difficult to gain acceptance of self-driving trucks by the public who must drive alongside them—and who already are wary of big rigs on the highway as it is.
The public and legislators will be “relatively big hurdles” for true acceptance of the technology that will put driverless big rigs on the roads, Lars Stenqvist, chief technology officer for Volvo Group, a major truck manufacturer, told Trucks.com.
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