Evaluation and Testing of Driver-Assistive Truck Platooning: Phase 2 Final Results

Abstract

Phase 2 final results are described for the FHWA Exploratory Advanced Research project titled Heavy Truck Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control: Evaluation, Testing, and Stakeholder Engagement for Near Term Deployment, which evaluates the commercial feasibility of driver-assistive truck platooning (DATP). The project was led by Auburn University, in partnership with Peloton Technology, Peterbilt Trucks, Meritor WABCO, and the American Transportation Research Institute. DATP is a form of cooperative adaptive cruise control for heavy trucks (two-truck platoons). It takes advantage of the increasing maturity of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications (and the expected widespread deployment of V2V connectivity based on dedicated short-range communications over the next decade) to improve freight efficiency, fleet efficiency, safety, and highway mobility as well as reduce emissions. Notably, truck fleets can implement DATP regardless of the regulatory timeline for dedicated short-range communications. The Phase 2 analysis built on Phase 1 and included a testing program of a DATP prototype (with detailed SAE Type 2 fuel economy testing), wireless communications optimization, traffic modeling to understand the impact on roadways at various levels of market penetration, and additional analysis of methods to find DATP partners as well as aerodynamic simulations to understand drag on the vehicles. Detailed analysis of the fuel economy testing data is provided.