Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2022 - 2

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
Bill Visnic
Editorial Director
Bill.Visnic@sae.org
Platooning still promising for trucking
There is " no business case " for platooning,
or the electronic coupling of two or
more trucks in close formation. That was
the assessment of Daimler Trucks in
2019 when it decided to pause its yearslong
platooning development activities.
The OEM determined that for U.S. longdistance
applications, where conditions
were expected to be ideal, the fuel savings
were less than stellar and diminished
further when the platoon got " disconnected "
and trucks had to accelerate
to reconnect. Instead, the company
turned its full attention to developing
highly automated (SAE Level 4) trucks.
The fate of Peloton Technology, a
company all-in on platooning but that
ceased operations in 2021, is another
indicator that perhaps platooning's
promise has faded.
Interestingly, Daimler Trucks North
America will have a panelist on an SAE
COMVEC 2022 technical session (www.
sae.org/attend/comvec/program/full) on
" Revisiting Platooning and Autonomous
Driving for On-Highway Trucks " - presumably
to discuss the autonomousdriving
portion of the program. A question
being asked of the session's panelists:
Do you see widespread adoption of
platooning, autonomous driving, or a
combination, by 2027?
Answering that question and others
will be experts from Virginia Tech,
Locomation and McKinsey & Co., along
with DTNA. A Pittsburgh, PA-based startup
launched in 2018, Locomation is pursuing
greenhouse-gas reductions through
freight optimization and its Autonomous
Relay Convoy (ARC) technology. ARC
consists of two trucks and two drivers
- the driver of the lead truck acts as the
" superior cognitive filter " ahead of the
follower truck's autonomy system.
" Locomation's technology offers a
viable short-term solution to reduce
Scope 1 and 3 emissions, " co-founder
and CEO Çetin Meriçli said in a recent
statement. " It is an immediate pathway
to reducing the supply chain's CO2
print and would be a big boost to any
shipper's bottom line. "
2 August 2022
Ryan Gehm
Editor-in-Chief
Ryan.Gehm@sae.org
Meriçli paints an optimistic picture of
platooning's efficacy. As does a new
market summary from Research and
Markets, which projects that the global
truck platooning market will grow from
a value of US$ 1.86 billion in 2021 to
around US$ 9.66 billion by 2027. Radarbased
adaptive cruise control and collision
mitigation systems are helping to
spur the growth. North America is the
largest market for truck platooning, according
to various reports, but Europe is
the fastest-growing region.
High costs associated with the adoption
and implementation of currently
available technology can be a limiting
factor to market expansion, and concerns
about privacy and cybersecurity also
must be addressed. But government initiatives
for cleaner vehicles and safer
roadways, along with a worsening drivershortage
problem, are significant drivers,
particularly for pairing a manned leader
vehicle with driverless following vehicles.
This scenario demonstrates an " immediate
market case " for autonomous and
semi-autonomous technologies, according
to Sridhar Lakshmanan, a professor
at the University of Michigan Dearborn.
A recent collaboration between researchers
at UM-Dearborn and Auburn
University explored a platoon with three
driverless trucks mimicking the manned
lead vehicle to maintain a set spacing of
50 m (164 ft). The three-year U.S. Dept.
of Energy-funded project showed that
substantial fuel savings can be achieved;
after 450 hours and 20,000 miles of
testing on tracks and public roads in
Alabama, Michigan and Quebec, the plafoottoons
averaged 12% better fuel economy.
" Autonomy is a really exciting proposition,
but the reality is there isn't always
a clear market case for using autonomous
technologies, " Lakshmanan said,
noting that a real-world pilot project
could follow. " But if you're a fleet operator
running thousands of trucks, the
financial savings are very substantial. "
Hmm, sounds like a promising business
case. Time will tell.
Ryan Gehm, Editor-in-Chief
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
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Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2022

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