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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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Business Case

The Leyland Case

A business case for the introduction of Truck Platooning in a transportation process

Truck platooning will be introduced in a business process. This process is the transportation of a product from A to B. This case involves a young entrepreneur in the beer industry that must deal with this transportation process and is interested in introducing Truck Platooning. He wrote a letter, asking for specific information about what impact introducing Truck Platooning will have on his company. This information will be in the form of a PCOI-model for his company after introducing the technology. Also, there will be given the best strategic approach for his company. Here will be explained what strategy will be the best fit for the company after introducing Truck Platooning. Finally, a costs and benefits analysis will be given on the overall implementation of Truck platooning in the transportation process.

This case is a specific example that will answer the main research question:

What are the positive and negative effects of the integration of the truck platooning technology in the European logistics sector?

Context

Dear group I,

I just started the company “De Jager Limited”. I bought 40 trucks from DAF Trucks N.V. to create my own fleet of trucks and deliver my special brand of beer, called Jagaria, to seven different places in Europe. Each truck drives an average distance of 100.000 kilometers per year. These trucks have an fuel consumption of 30 liters per 100 kilometer. The fuels costs are 1,5 euro per liter. My brewery is situated in Leyland, England. The brewing there is in the hands of very capable and professional experts. They have a secret formula which gives my beer the finishing touch it needs. However, I need to supply them with the materials for the production. I have stored these materials in Eindhoven, and I will deliver them on time for the brewing and bottling process. The route is about 820 kilometers long, so they will need to fill up their tanks. However, with a tank available of 1.500 liters, they won’t need to refill, as their range can extend to more than thousands of miles. The greatest limitation of these vehicles is the breaks that the driver needs to take. I have three FTE’s who are planning the routes of my trucks. I have FTE’s who are driving the trucks. Below is an overview of the laws for drivers in Europe.

Daily driving period shall not exceed 9 hours, with an exemption of twice a week when it can be extended to 10 hours.

Total weekly driving time may not exceed 56 hours and the total fortnightly driving time may not exceed 90 hours.

Daily rest period shall be at least 11 hours, with an exception of going down to 9 hours maximum three times a week. Daily rest can be split into 3 hours rest followed by 9 hours of rest to make a total of 12 hours daily rest

Weekly rest is 45 continuous hours, which can be reduced every second week to 24 hours. Compensation arrangements apply for reduced weekly rest period. Weekly rest is to be taken after six days of working, except for coach drivers engaged in a single occasional service of international transport of passengers who may postpone their weekly rest period after 12 days to facilitate coach holidays.

Breaks of at least 45 minutes (separable into 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes) should be taken after 4 ½ hours at the latest.

The compliance with these provisions is subject to continuous monitoring and controls, which are carried out on national and international level via checking tachograph records at the road side and at the premises of undertakings.

In this case, with an average speed of 80 km/h, the drivers will have an absolute driving time of 10+ hours. This means that the drivers need to stop at least two times before they reach their destination. Because of the limitation of max 10 hours drive a day, they will need to take a break of at least 9 hours. After that, they will reach their destination after a minimum of 20.75 hours. After this they will get back and make the trip multiple times this year.

PCOI model

After the implementation of the “Truck Platooning” technology on trucks for De Jager Limited, there will be several changes that will occur on the elements of P, C, O and I. Below we will elaborate about the impacts of these changes.

Process

Fuel cost reduction

The first and foremost interesting impact on the process is the reduction of fuel costs. Multiple companies like DAF, Mercedes and Scania estimate that there will be a 10% cost reduction possible in fuel expenditure. Some companies even predict a reduction of 20%. De Jager Limited drives with all trucks added up no less than 4.000.000 kilometers each year (100.000 each truck), the equivalent of 1.200.000 liters diesel. Counted in the current prices, this adds up to a total fuel costs each year of € 1.800.000, -. A reduction of 10% would mean that my company would save € 180.000, - each year. In future developments, these reductions can still increase because of shorter distances to opposite drivers and better aerodynamic.

C02 emissions reduction

Each year, government rules about C02 emissions become stricter. The Euro6 engine is now top of the line and within the restrictions. However, it becomes harder and harder to reduces the emissions. There is a theoretical limitation to reduction, and at that point, reduction of C02 is only possible by driving more economical and using less fuel. This is achieved by Truck Platooning technology. A reduction of 10% fuel usage means an even 10% reduction of C02 emission.

Less traffic jams

Because of the better flow of traffic, there will be a reduction of traffic jams. Of course, when only a few companies use Truck Platooning, these differences are very hard to measure. But when this technology will become obligated to reach new emission standards, all trucks will get the technology installed. This will mean that there will be a major difference in traffic jams, and therefore a positive effect on driving time for drivers.

Maintenance Because of more technical enhancements and new options, trucks will probably need to check more often at the garage. This because the software must be working perfectly in order to avoid disasters. This can lead to higher maintenance cost.

Safety improvement

Because of the new system that reacts in cases of emergency, the situation on the road as well as in the cabin of the truck becomes safer. Because of a shorter response time, traffic fatalities can be reduced. Also, the driver will not be harmed if a crash is avoided. This can lead to an overall decrease of non-attendance of drivers. EU statistics for 2014 show that heavy trucks accounted for 11% of the EU vehicle fleet but were responsible for 15% of deaths caused by road traffic accidents. In 2017, there were 66.439 fatal traffic accidents. Counted with the percentage of 2014, approximately 10.000 people lost their lives in a confrontation with a heavy truck. With a save and fast system that could break before a human reacts, there could be a big improvement in these tragic deaths.

Intercompany truck platooning

When Truck Platooning is further developed, intercompany Platooning will be available. This will mean that if a truck from De Jager Limited encounters several from DAF, my truck can join the platoon and enjoy the same benefits as the drivers in front of him. In our strategy, we will be driving with relatively big platoons on our routes. For De Jager Limited it will be best to let other trucks join the platoons we are already driving, to earn a bit from them. For this, there must be a system from which trucks can have a certificate to join other company platoons. When they will reduce their fuel costs with 100 euro’s, they can pay the company who they joined a percentage of these savings.

Increase in driving time

Driving more safely and causing less accidents can lead to the government allowing drivers to drive more hours consecutively. This will have a direct impact on the availability of my trucks and can lead to more effectively putting my resources to the task, or maybe needing less of them. If the allowed driving time would be increased from 4,5 hours to 5,5 hours, lead time would considerably be reduced. When we look at the route from Eindhoven to Leyland for example, the driving time from 20,75 hours will be reduced to less than 11 hours because of a 9-hours brake that isn’t necessary anymore. (calculation based on the driver laws of Europe)

Control

New control system for Truck Platooning

In order to correctly steer the platoons, there will need to be a control center that will be monitoring all the platoons and companies. This platooning service provider will be in control of certification and act as central coordinator for truck platoons from several companies. When this provider is fully operational, the control partly shifts from logistical planners to this external planner. The planners will only need to make a planning, routes will be altered by the provider.

Organization

Bigger platoons of trucks

The technology provides a greater benefit for the middle trucks in the platoon. This will lead to a preference of bigger platoons for greater benefits, as explained in the image below. Bigger companies will have an easier time to arrange for bigger platoon, as where smaller companies will not be able to compile big platoons. The intercompany platooning system will be a solution for them. Planners will get the task to plan deliveries with multiple trucks instead of solo truck deliveries.

Increase of availability employees and resources

Because of the improvement of traffic flows, orders will sooner be delivered, drivers and trucks will be back sooner, and the overall lead time will consequently be reduced. At this moment it is not possible to calculate exactly how this will improve the availability, but the assumption can be made that the more trucks and maybe even cars will use this technology, the better this improvement will be. The increase of availability of resources will lead to either a cost reduction for the company or De Jager Limited will be able to add customers to its portfolio!

Routes for Platooning

At first Truck Platooning will not be permitted on all roads. Different countries will have different opinions about the safety of Truck Platooning. Therefore, the organizer of the logistics will need to consider the different laws and restrictions for different countries. After more years of development, new routes will be available in more countries. This means that the route planners will constantly be busy with planning the quickest and most efficient ways. This will cost more time than with the old system.

Information

Inter communication between trucks

In the old situation, information was passed between the truck and the employee responsible for the transport, inside the company. This person could monitor driving hours, location, weather, traffic information and fuel consumption. Also, there was communication between the truck and the driver itself. Prompts for maintenance, low fuel or oil levels and indications of time driven would be given automatically to the driver on the dashboard.

In the new situation, two information flows will be added. The first flow is from the new Platooning Service Provider to the truck. This system will influence the choices the truck will make while driving in a platoon or joining/exiting one. The second flow of information will exist between the different trucks in a platoon. This information will consist among other things out of commands to brake, steer and accelerate.

These new flows must be interpreted by computers inside the truck. The increasing extent of the data will mean that increasingly stronger computers will be needed to correctly process the information. This means a slight increase in purchase value of the trucks.

Other key performance indicators

As the strategic focus of the company shifts from differentiation to cost leadership, other key performance indicators become relevant. In the old situation, De Jager Limited was focused on low lead- and delivery time. Now, the focus will be on low stock and transport costs. For example, another PI will be the percentage of time driven as platoon, which needs to be as high as possible.

Strategic options

When truck platooning will be introduced in a transportation company it will have an impact on the strategic options of this company. There will be a clear difference in strategy between small and large companies. In this case the size is determined by the amount of trucks a company has available per trajectory. If a company has three or more trucks available per trajectory it is a big company.

For big companies a low-cost strategy would be very beneficial and is in line with the way they can operate. This is because big companies can make use of bigger platoons. Three or more trucks of their own company can all drive together in a big bulk from destination A to destination B.

The following trucks will then experience the advantageous that come with shadowing the leading truck and thus an increase in efficiency will arise. In addition to the cost reduction of driving a platoon with own trucks, big companies can also benefit from smaller companies that will pay fees to connect to this platoon. With this extra income the expenses per driven kilometre will decrease even more. . This efficient way of driving will lead to lower cost and is therefore perfectly suitable for a low cost strategy as you can see at the value creation frontier (image ..). In case of De Jager Limited there are 5 trucks available per trajectory so it is big. Therefore, De Jager Limited should have a cost focus strategy. The focus comes from the fact that De Jager Limited has only eight trajectories and thus a narrow scope. This is also the reason why it has many trucks per trajectory and can operate cost efficient.

De Jager Limited came from a differentiation focus strategy.

They were operating with this strategy because they were focussing on being customer responsive and very flexible. Being flexible was translated in letting trucks drive one by one with smaller batches. When they would carry on with this way of flexible operating, they would miss out on the biggest benefits of truck platooning as described earlier. For small companies however, it is advantageous to make strategic decisions in line with a differentiation strategy that is based on flexibility and customer responsiveness. These companies can be customer responsive with just one truck per trajectory when they will make use of the bigger companies and their platoons. This way they can still save expenses while being a flexible provider.

QDC impacts

The change in strategy will also affect the QDC of De Jager Limited, which describes the outcome of the company. The quality will stay the same. This is because the beer will stay the same. Nothing will change in the taste the look or the experience of the beer. The costs however will change as explained earlier. They will decrease. This decrease lays in the transportation costs and everything that comes with it. The manufacturing an occupancy costs will stay the same. Of course, an investment must be made, but the continuous costs will be reduced. The figures of these investments and costs are further explained in the next paragraph. The delivery of De Jager Limited will also change. It will change in matters of flexibility. The transportation will go faster but cannot take place at any given moment because it is more profitable to drive in bulk with more trucks.

Costs and benefits

In the tables below, you will find an overview of the costs and benefits of the case for De Jager Limited. Not every benefit or costs was quantifiable, so we had to describe it instead. Counted with the numbers available, the ROI of this case is only 310 days. This is counted with the lowest estimation of fuel reduction. Simply said, if the fuel cost reduction would be 20%, the ROI would be only 180 days, or less than half a year.

This means that if the system was sold to De Jager Limited, the next year the benefits for this company would be excellent. This calculation didn’t account for the fees of other companies who platoon with De Jager Limited when they encounter them on the road, shorter delivery times and increase in availability of employees and resources. These benefits will have a major impact on the company! We believe that the costs of the maintenance and the usage costs of the central provider will be inferior to those pluses.

As conclusion, we heartily recommend that De Jager Limited will make the choice to implement Truck Platooning in its company, to increase their profit, further strengthen their positionagainst competitors and be ready for the future!

#processes

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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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Product Markets

The context and product market fit

The chosen context for this technology is the European truck transport branch. This market is an interesting scope for the technology, because the application and its benefits will affect this branch the most. The truck manufacturers together with other companies develop the technology, but the companies in the logistics sector will be the ones that use Truck Platooning. The three major benefits of the technology are:

- Improved safety because of an almost instant reaction of the software on brakes

- Cost-saver because of lower fuel consumption and lower C02 emission.

- Efficient traffic flows

Especially the second benefit is important for the transport branch. But also improved driver safety is a good selling point for the customers. Transporting your materials or products safely has become a much more important issue then it was 20 years ago. Finally, the improved flow of traffic is a benefit that will only present itself if more and more companies start using the truck platooning technology. Three or four trucks won’t make the difference here. However, is 50% of the driving trucks are equipped with this technology, there will be a positive effect on traffic jams etc. Different simulation studies estimate that road capacity measured in vehicles per hour can be doubled because of the improved traffic flow and reduced vehicle distances (Boysen, N., Briskorn, D., & Schwerdfeger, S., 2018). These are the reasons that transport companies will be very interested in using this technology once it has been tested sufficiently and legislation allows it.

When Truck Platooning is allowed, and publicly accepted companies will start buying the product. As the technology does not exist yet we decided to make an educated guess about the costs of the technology. The Truck Platooning technology is made up of a few sensors, a radar and the software. Most of this equipment is already available as an option in customer cars. As an example, we looked at the Mercedes E-class driver assistances, which includes a following function meaning it steers, brakes and accelerates for the driver. This option cost 2904 euros (Mercedes, 2018). Because truck platooning adds communication software and hardware that allows the trucks to communicate with each other we will add 2000 euros to the Mercedes price. This means that we estimate the additional price of the Truck Platooning technology at around 5000 euros. During the interview with the DAF-employee he told us that the technology is ready to be built into the trucks and it won’t affect the DAF assembly process much.

Potential cost reduction for the customers:

In Europe, the road freight transport covers an astonishing 174.730.000.000 vehicle kilometers in 2017. Each year, this number keeps on growing with the improvement of the economy. The different truck manufacturers estimate a reduction of fuel consumption of 10% through Truck Platooning. With these numbers we can estimate an annual reduction of fuel costs in the transport industry. With 10% reduction of fuel costs, calculated with the average diesel cost/km:

- Average truck fuel consumption 29 liters per 100 km

- (174.730.000.000 km *29)/100 = 50.671.700.000 liters of diesel to cover the total distance.

- Average costs of € 1,50 per liter diesel

- 50.671.700.000 * 1,5 = 76.007.550.000 euros of fuel each year.

- Potential fuel cost reduction = 76.007.550.000 * 0,01 = 7.600.755.000 euros

This means that is all the trucks used Truck Platooning the annual total cost reduction could be 7.6 billion.

Road safety

EU statistics for 2014 show that trucks accounted for 11% of the EU vehicle fleet and were responsible for 15% of deaths caused by road traffic accidents. In 2017, there were (741.400.000 / 100.000 * 9,3) = 66.439 fatal traffic accidents.

Calculated with the percentage of 2014, approximately 10.000 people lost their lives in a crash with a truck involved. Truck Platooning reacts 25 times faster than human reactions. Also, because the drivers don’t need to concentrate constantly because the trucks drive themselves. In short, Truck Platooning will assist in reducing the number of truck related deaths.

#productmarkets

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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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EU Truck Platooning goals

The official European Truck Platooning commission has set a couple of goals for the year 2025.

In 2016 when these goals were set the developments allowed:

- 2-3 trucks per platoon,

- mono-brand use

- platooning was only used and tested on national motorways.

By 2020 they want to realize:

- 3+ trucks per platoon

- Multi-brand use

- Harmonized European legislation

- Cross-border use

By 2025:

- Highly automated SAE level 4

- Multi brand

- Access all motorways in Europe

These goals are from a very interesting Youtube video by the official European Truck Platooning commission. We suggest you watch this educational video!

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#truckplatooning

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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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Future improvements and applications

The current applications of this technology are limited. This is due to the fact that the technology is still in its development and testing stage. The different truck manufacturers are allowed to conduct public road tests, but legislation does not allow the technology to be used at the moment. This however means that there is lots of room for future improvements and applications.

The short-term goals for DAF for example are:

- Pilots for safety;

- Logistical implementations;

- Public acceptance;

- International legislation.

youtube

Aerodynamic improvements

As discussed above trucks as they are designed now are not aerodynamically ideal. An aerodynamic improvement related to Truck Platooning can be found in other technological fields. An innovation could be adding a variant of a Schneekluth duct to the rear of a truck. A Schneekluth duct is a technology used in the maritime industry as a part of hydrodynamics. A Schneekluth duct guides and shapes water into the ship’s propeller to maximize efficiency.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029801807001321

If a truck added a reversed Schneekluth duct to the back of the trailer, this could be used to guide air around the second truck in the platoon, and so forth. This would result is less drag for the following vehicles. The trucks would then not only be designed and engineered to experience as little as possible drag themselves, but also to lower the resistance for slipstreaming trucks, as is the case in a truck platoon. Innovations like these are not unthinkable. If Truck Platooning becomes the norm, or even mandatory, truck design might be changed accordingly.

There are also other aerodynamic improvements in development that focus on the individual truck. For example this inflatable ‘Trucksack’ which is being developed by Mercedes. Simply said it is an inflatable bag attached to the rear of the trailer which improves the aerodynamic shape of the truck. Field experiments show a decrease of fuel consumption of 20%.

youtube

#truckplatooning

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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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Crucial characteristics of the technology (Part 3)

Truck Platooning

Truck Platooning is developed to reduce the impact the transport sector has on the environment. The fact that the lower fuel consumption saves companies money is a very welcome benefit however. Legislation regarding the environment changes every couple of years and for truck manufacturers that means that the trucks need to produce less CO2 emissions. This is where Truck Platooning comes in. According to GreenTruck.eu (2014) trucks burn 40% of their fuel to battle air resistance.

Truck Platooning intelligently takes advantage of slipstreaming. Slipstreaming (also called drafting) happens when an object (let’s say a truck) follows another truck in close proximity. The first truck in line will disrupt the air as it would normally, creating a low-pressure area behind the truck. The air resistance hitting the slipstreaming truck will be lower than normal. Simply said the leading truck creates a ‘hole’ in the air, resulting in less drag for the second truck. The closer the trucks drive together the less drag the second truck will experience.

As the Truck Platooning technology is in development / testing stages there is a limited amount of data available about the amount of fuel saving. We did however find results of one experiment that tested the reduction of fuel consumption in a truck platoon. These results will be analyzed to get a general understanding of the effects of truck platooning. This research was conducted by several organization in Japan managed by the Japanese Automobile Research Institute (JARI). Brian Wang (2015) wrote an article discussing some of these results. The experiment focused on CO2 reduction and the results were very promising. When the test trucks drove behind each other with a gap of 10 meters the measured drag reduction was around 40% for the following trucks. Interestingly the drag was also reduced for the leading truck. We first did not understand this when we read it, so we went back to researching aerodynamics to understand this phenomenon.

Source: http://www.fdcholdings.co.uk/tag/the-pallet-network/

After some research we discovered that drag is not just experienced at the front of the truck but also at the rear. At the front of the truck there is a force that pushes on the truck and at the rear the turbulence creates a force that pulls back on the truck. When two or more trucks drive in a platoon the leading truck still experiences the pushing force, but the pulling force is reduced because of the second truck. In the Japanese experiment this resulted in a drag reduction for the leading vehicle of 8-9%. This is very interesting for the Truck Platooning technology because truck won’t always be one of the following trucks when driving in a platoon. This research shows that even when your truck is leading the platoon fuel consumption will still be less than when not driving in a platoon at all. The gap at which these reductions are measured is 10 meters, meaning there is 10 meters between the unique trucks in the platoon. This gap is realistic because the European truck manufacturers all test the Truck Platooning technology with a gap of 0,5 seconds. Trucks drive at 80km/h on average which translates to a gap of 0,45 seconds with a little math magic.

80/3,6 = 22,22 meters per second.

10/22,22 = 0,45 seconds.

Even when this gap was doubled to 20 meters the drag reduction was still significant, around 25% for the following vehicles. The following image shows the three trucks from the experiment in an aerodynamic simulation.

Source: B. Wang, 2015

The following image shows the measured reduction of drag coefficient (Cd).

Source: B. Wang, 2015

A truck driving by its self would have a Cd of 100%. The graph shows that the leading truck (vehicle 1) still has the highest Cd (even though it is only slightly). Its Cd value is around 77% which is still significantly less than if it were driving alone. The Cd of the second truck is 50% which is a huge decrease. The Cd of the third truck, and in this case last truck in the platoon is around 75%. The decrease of the second vehicle is so large because it experiences less pull and less push forces. Again, the leading vehicle only has its pull forces reduced and the last truck only has it push forces reduced.

The last thing we will take a look at regarding this Japanese experiment is the actual reduction of fuel consumption. The following image presents the results graphically.

Source: B. Wang, 2015

The y-axis shows the fuel reduction as a percentage and the x-axis the distance of the gap between the trucks in meters. In this graph, only the results from a 10-meter gap are shown. The vehicles realize a reduction of fuel consumption of 9%, 18% and 16% respectively. This results in an average of around 14%.

The average fuel consumption of a truck is around 29 liters per 100 kilometers driven. This depends heavily on the mass of the truck’s cargo, city- or highway driving and hilly- or flat terrain, but for this calculation 29 liters per 100 kilometers will be used. If the three trucks drove 100 kilometers in a platoon the fuel consumption will reduce from a total of 87 liters (if all trucks drove alone) to about 75 liters of diesel.

#truckplatooning

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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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Crucial characteristics of the technology (Part 2)

Aerodynamics

The success of Truck Platooning is thanks to intelligent use of the aerodynamic laws. Fuel consumption is reduced due to the trucks slipstreaming. In this blogpost the aerodynamic laws related to trucks will be described. Subsequently, information will be given about how Truck Platooning takes advantage of slipstreaming.

The larger the front surface, and the more edges an object has, the larger the air resistance. A drop shape has the ideal aerodynamic shape. The image below compares the air resistance hitting a truck and a drop shape.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NPNiyR5cWo&frags=pl%2Cwn

The image shows little to no ‘straight’ air flow, this means a lot of turbulence is generated. The turbulent air flow leads to more air resistance and eventually more fuel consumption. The speed at which an object moves through the air also has a large impact on the amount of air resistance. If the speed of the object increases by factor two, the air resistance will increase by factor four. If a truck is driving at a speed of 85km/h or 23,6 m/s, 40% of the total resistance is generated by air resistance. This exponential growth is shown in the next image.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NPNiyR5cWo&frags=pl%2Cwn

If we reconsider the drop shape as an ideal form regarding air resistance, the shape of a truck can be improved substantially. This could be realized by shaping a truck more like a single droplet. Truck manufacturer MAN has created a concept design that takes this shape into account. This concept is presented in the next image.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NPNiyR5cWo&frags=pl%2Cwn

This image shows that the air passing the truck is way less turbulent than in the image of the regular truck. Apart from the main shape of the truck this design also eliminates as many edges as possible. As mentioned above edges create drag. In the image above, you might have noticed that the gas tanks are hidden behind a panel on the side of the tractor, the rear wheels are partially covered to guide the air around them, the mirrors are replaced by a tiny camera and lastly the trailer almost sits flush with the tractor. All these improvements reduce drag and therefore fuel consumption. Many of these smaller changes are in development now and will surely make their way to trucks on the roads. These innovations don’s just save the logistic companies money, but due to the reduced CO2 emissions the environmental impact is reduced.

Unfortunately, current legislation does not allow these designs to be put on the road. For this truck design to haul the same capacity as a current model the length would need to be increased substantially. Current legislation states that the length of a tractor trailer combination can be a maximum of 18,75m. Also, many safety regulations will not allow these changes at the moment.

#truckplatooning

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fontysgroupi-blog · 6 years ago

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Crucial characteristics of the technology (Part 1)

What is Truck Platooning?

Truck Platooning is a technology currently in development by multiple truck manufacturers. It is a package that consists of hardware, in the form of sensors and cameras and software. These manufacturers include DAF, Volvo, Man, Scania and Mercedes. Simply put, Truck Platooning is an innovation where a truck links to another truck on the road via a wireless communication network. When this link happens the second truck driver in line no longer needs to drive his truck. The truck uses sensors and cameras to ‘shadow’ the first truck of the formed platoon. Truck platooning has many benefits that will be elaborated on later in this post.

Truck platooning has a couple of different names. It also called Cooperative Automatic Driving or specific to manufacturer DAF it is called Eco Twin. We chose to further research the Eco Twin technology by DAF because we were able to speak to someone who works at DAF Trucks. DAF Trucks works together with three other companies on the Eco Twin technology. Ricardo is involved to check the international safety standards. NXP provides state of the art wireless communication technology that support the cameras and the sensors. TNO is developing the platooning technology. Finally, DAF is integrating all the systems and manages the testing.

How does it work?

The Truck Platooning technology is a combination of software and hardware. The combination of these two elements is not as complicated as self-driving cars, the reason being that the first truck in the platoon in still controlled by a human. Therefore, Truck Platooning still relies on a human cognitive thinking. Truck Platooning does however use elements of the self-driving technology. Truck Platooning uses a combination of sensors, radars and cameras. The information obtained by these sensors is communicated between trucks via a wireless communication system. This system works 25 times faster than human reaction making the technology safer. This means that when the leading truck slams the brakes, the following trucks in the platoon instantly break as well. The sensors and cameras are all constantly measuring the speed, distance and direction of the trucks in order to follow the leading truck. These sensors and cameras also keep an eye out for cars cutting through the convoy. When this happens the truck automatically slows down and creates a respectable gap for the car. When the car switches to another lane the trucks will automatically speed up again to close the gap to the leading truck.

The following picture shows the different components and their locations.

Source: B. Wang, 2015

There are many benefits of this technology. Firstly, the workload of the following driver is reduced. He no longer needs to steer, accelerate or brake his truck. Accidents related to fatigue will reduce as a consequence. Secondly, safety increases because the wireless communications technology reacts 25 times faster than a human ever could. This means that when the leading trucks brakes, to the human eye the second truck now brakes simultaneously. The next benefit is related to the size of the following gap. Because of this technology trucks can follow each other with a gap of 0,5 seconds. This results in a couple of further benefits. Roads are used more efficiently, it improves traffic flow, fuel consumption is reduced by 10% and CO2 emission are reduced by 10%.

#truckplatooning

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