First automated road train

Volvo truck leads 'Platoon' of vehicles 200km on public motorway

David Badger

Thursday, 31 May 2012

  

For the first time, a Volvo truck has led a platoon – a convoy in which vehicles automatically follow a leader – on a public motorway with other road users.

The tests were part of the EU-funded SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project – a joint-venture between seven European partners, including Volvo Trucks. 

Last week on a motorway outside Barcelona, Spain, the first test-drive of a road train, consisting of both trucks and cars among other road users, covered 200km in one day.

In the SARTRE project, safety systems, such as cameras and radar, are used by the following vehicles to monitor the lead truck, as well as the other vehicles in their immediate vicinity. By adding wireless communication, all the vehicles in the platoon “mimic” the lead truck – accelerating, braking and turning in exactly the same way as the lead vehicle.

In Spain last week, three cars and a truck followed the lead Volvo truck, the distance between each vehicle being just six metres at 85kph.

“The truck behaved exactly as expected, and the following vehicles responded just as planned. It was great to be a part of this landmark event,” said Andreas Ekfjorden, Project Manager for Volvo Trucks in the SARTRE project and test driver of the lead truck in Spain.

The environmental impact of a road train is lower than that of conventional traffic, since the following vehicles are close behind the truck and each other and can benefit from lower air drag, says Volvo. By improving traffic flow, road capacity will also be able to be utilised more efficiently. 

In the haulage industry – where fuel-efficiency is a highly critical success factor – these findings raise questions on how the savings should be distributed. Analysis of business models for platoons is an integral part of the SARTRE project. 

“Haulage firms stand to gain from platoons, but more work needs to be done before it is possible to say what a working business model will look like,” said Frida Ramde, Intelligent Vehicle Technologies Manager at Volvo Trucks.

The three-year SARTRE project began 2009. After the test on public roads in Spain, the project is now entering a new phase with the focus on analysis of fuel consumption.

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