NACFE Says Platooning Becoming Realistic Option
This story appears in the Oct. 3 print edition of Transport Topics.
Truck platooning is an increasingly realistic opportunity, with key foundational technologies already in the marketplace and testing is under way.
And, an electronic tethering of two Class 8 trucks could boost both participating vehicles’ fuel efficiency in real-world conditions by 4%, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency said in a report.
“This is an evolution, not a revolution, in trucking,” NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth said during a conference call to discuss the findings.
Two-truck platooning draws on adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance technologies fleets are buying now, coupled with wireless communications, Roeth said.
“We see platooning as the next logical automation,” he said.
Several hurdles remain to be cleared before the practice becomes common, NACFE said.
One would be the need to increase the driving public’s awareness on how to share the road safely with platooning trucks that would be moving at highway speeds and separated from each other by only about 50 feet.
Another is educating law enforcement officers about this method of delivering freight, which at first glance would seem to violate many states’ laws regulating how closely trucks may follow each other.
“Literally all states have laws regulating the distance vehicles may follow other vehicles, called ‘follow too closely’ laws,” Ted Scott, director of engineering services at American Trucking Associations, told Transport Topics. “Most of these laws, however, only require that the distance is ‘reasonable and prudent,’ some states specify the distance and some other states specify a time gap.”
Other issues to be resolved include driver acceptance, sharing fuel savings and handling potential liability litigation.
One aspect of the process that is likely to change over time is vehicle-to-vehicle communications — or how both trucks in a platoon transmit key operational characteristics between each other, including the signals needed for coordinated braking and acceleration.
So far, that is being done with dedicated short-range communications, or DSRC, at 5.9 GHz, such as is already used in electronic toll collection and weigh station bypass situations, NACFE said.
Other avenues besides DSRC are likely to open up, said Rick Mihelic, an NACFE program manager, because the industry is still “very new” and standards are not thoroughly defined yet.
It is likely some “innovative guys out there are possibly going to come up with some alternatives to the [DSRC] approaches, and speed will be a factor. We are just going to have to see where it goes in the next few years,” Mihelic said.
Meanwhile, any gains in fuel efficiency from two-truck platooning will depend on traffic conditions that “may cause significant dithering of throttles and use of brakes that will reduce the fuel-savings benefits,” according to the report. “Additionally, studies show that engine cooling for current-designed vehicles may cause the engine fans to engage more frequently during platooning, reducing fuel benefits.”
Also, there is agreement, NACFE said, that any evaluation of platooning should begin with a review of braking capabilities and reaction times. Collision avoidance and electronic brake systems, when combined, can reduce brake application times significantly versus an unassisted driver.
Roeth said the exact costs and paybacks for fleets considering a two-truck platoon remain to be determined beyond the expected fuel-efficiency gains.
“Clearly, it is way too early to understand the costs of the different elements that enable platooning and the benefits and savings that exist, so we put a straw man cost calculator for the industry to download in an Excel spreadsheet,” he said.
