Semi-autonomous truck columns successfully passed the test on European roads

In Europe, the European Truck Platooning Challenge pilot competition was successfully completed , in which semi-automatic trucks from various automakers followed long-distance columns. Trucks from Daimler, Volvo and Scania traveled up to 2,000 km in several European countries. On April 7, the columns finished at the Dutch port of Maasvlakte.

Semi-automatic convoy of trucks consists of several vehicles, of which only the front is controlled by the driver. The trucks following him, like wagons behind a locomotive, are controlled by a computer, receiving commands from the front via WiFi. They are also equipped with distance sensors and satellite navigation. They automatically keep the speed of the head truck, synchronously brake and accelerate, and turn themselves behind it in the right places. An intelligent system is able to recognize a machine trying to fit into a column and change the distance accordingly.


Brief description of the column
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According to the calculations of the Netherlands research firm TNO, such truck columns should not only reduce the number of accidents on the roads (since 90% of accidents occur due to driver errors), but also save some fuel - trucks running in the tail of the head, by reducing friction about air, spend 10% less fuel. In addition, automatic trucks can keep close to each other, saving space on the road.


Pacifying pillars taken from a helicopter

In the just-completed experiment, just in case, the driver was present in each truck, and the semi-automatic convoy was activated only on the freeways when the road was not too heavy. Trucks drove through Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands (a total of three columns participated in the race, each of which had its own route).