Navistar Demos Platooning Technology, Concept Vehicle With New LT, HX Series Trucks
Jonathan S. Reiskin – Transport TopicsNEW CARLISLE, Ind. — Navistar Inc. engineer Scott Smay paid close attention to the ProStar tractor he was driving on a closed course here; he just didn’t spend much time with his hands on the wheel or feet on the pedals.
As the driver of truck No. 2 in a platoon, there was no need for it, even though he was driving at 45 miles per hour and was just 17 meters, 56 feet, behind another tractor-trailer. Usually a driver should leave enough distance for a 3.5-second gap to allow for reaction to changes on the road, but now it was sliced to a single second — far too little distance for humans, but an ample amount in the wireless-connected world of truck platooning.
At what was once a Studebaker Corp. facility, the original equipment manufacturer took Oct. 12 to show off its present — the new International LT and HX series trucks — and a glimpse of the future with a platooning demonstration and rides in its CatalIST concept vehicle built for the Department of Energy’s SuperTruck research and development program.
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Navistar is working on a platoon project with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the Texas Department of Transportation. Mo Poorsartep is the TTI project manager in charge.
Jonathan S. Reiskin – Transport TopicsHe said they are working on a system that combines longitudinal control, or following distance, and latitudinal control, or steering.
“The system can do lane changes. We worked with Bendix [Commercial Vehicle Systems] and what we’re doing is built on top of their Wingman system,” Poorsartep said.
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Engineering consulting firm Ricardo PLC wrote the software that controls the inter-truck movements in the platoon. Asked if a sudden, hard stop would be part of the demonstration, a Ricardo engineer said no.
“We are still in the proof-of-concept stage of development, not the bullet-proof production stage,” he said.
The CatalIST demonstration included height adjustment of the tractor while in motion. The tractor-trailer has a 6x2 power configuration, and at highway speeds the front of the tractor and back of the trailer drop lower, while the tractor’s tag and drive axles stay high, thereby producing an air foil.
At lower speeds the front and back elevations return to normal heights, said Dean Oppermann, Navistar’s chief engineer for advanced technologies, including the SuperTruck program.
Oppermann said the truck utilizes three different electrical systems: a traditional 12-volt for most applications, 48 volts for solar and hybrid operations and 24 volts for the starter system.
International LT was unveiled Sept. 30 in Las Vegas, immediately before the start of American Trucking Associations’ annual meeting there. The new linehaul tractors made available for editors and reporters came with either automated manual or classic manual transmissions and were hooked to Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. flatbed trailers.
The LTs traveled around the high-speed oval at the proving grounds, while the vocational HX dump trucks went through their paces on a dirt course that included man-made obstacles.
The HX was launched in February as part of Navistar’s effort to update its entire product line.
