Researchers Simulate Longer Truck Platoons – Fleet Administration

So many issues have modified throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, one being transportation. In the course of the previous two years, the necessity for truck drivers and provides has ramped up, main one Louisiana State College professor to analysis enhancements to the provision chain whereas making visitors security a precedence utilizing autonomous autos.

Because of a $183,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents, Hany Hassan, an assistant professor in transportation engineering within the LSU Division of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is learning the advantages of truck platooning on U.S. highways. Truck platooning is when vans journey collectively linked by a pc system, which communicates with the vans to align velocity, acceleration, and braking. Drivers steer, watch the system, and intervene when wanted.

“We predict this expertise to assist the freight motion,” mentioned Hassan in a press release. “The principle good thing about this mission is making an attempt to establish what would be the finest platoon measurement—5 – 6 vans—and see if the vans ought to keep in a single lane or use two. Figuring out the optimum platoon measurement and configuration is essential for the freight sector to maximise its advantages on highways. This can be performed whereas bearing in mind driving behaviors of different conventional autos that can share the street with autonomous truck platooning.”

In line with the U.S. Division of Transportation Federal Freeway Administration, platooning reduces air drag, improves gas financial system, and likewise has the potential to extend automobile capability on the highways, significantly alongside freight corridors. The advantages of truck platooning deployment and operations are improved gas financial savings and decreased greenhouse fuel emissions; improved throughput, mobility, and street effectivity; and decreased working prices for the business freight business.

Hassan says that whereas this new mode of visitors expertise is extremely helpful, it additionally comes with its challenges.

“Think about you’re driving and there’s a lengthy platooning truck beside you,” he added. “It’s essential take the following exit. How do you recover from? This is without doubt one of the situations we’re going to take a look at.”

Hassan and Ph.D. pupil Mohamed Mohamed will put truck platooning to the take a look at in 3 ways. First, they are going to use a microsimulation instrument referred to as VISSIM that may create any street setting and simulate any sort of auto that can transfer on the street community. The software program will give measurements to judge the impression of platooning. Secondly, they are going to use the driving simulator lab in LSU’s Patrick F. Taylor Corridor, which is able to enable them to check driver habits.

“Drivers within the driving simulation lab can be advised which vans are platooning primarily based on their coloration,” Hassan mentioned. “We need to see if drivers velocity as much as go the platoon and even go between the vans. We need to know if platooning vans will trigger extra accidents or scale back the variety of accidents.”

Hassan and Mohamed’s ultimate testing technique can be within the type of a survey given to drivers from all around the nation, asking questions associated to the mission.

Whereas truck drivers may be afraid truck platooning might put them out of a job, Hassan assures that this gained’t occur.

“The mission isn’t meant to remove jobs from truck drivers however improve visitors security, since many truck drivers do get drained and go to sleep whereas behind the wheel,” he mentioned. “It is going to take many years earlier than we attain 100% automation. Within the close to future, nevertheless, we are going to see a mixture of autonomous autos and actual drivers.”

Present platooning expertise being evaluated in North America consists of two-truck platoons. Locomation plans to routinely interact in business operations at scale in america with its Autonomous Relay Convoy system beginning in late 2022 with Wilson Logistics and following with PGT Trucking in 2023. 

Different corporations initially lively in truck platooning growth have backed off. In early 2019, Daimler Vehicles’ chief Martin Daum introduced the corporate was backing off from platooning and specializing in autonomous truck expertise, saying there was no clear enterprise case for platooning. Peloton Applied sciences ceased operations in 2021, in response to SAE Worldwide.

Nonetheless, the SAE article additionally notes that its 2022 business automobile conference, SAE COMVEC 2022 in September, has a technical session on “Revisiting Platooning and Autonomous Driving for On-Freeway Vehicles,” with panelists from Daimler Truck North America, Locomation, McKinsey & Co., and Virginia Tech.