Opportunities and Barriers for Truck Platooning on Norwegian Rural Freight Routes

Abstract

Truck platooning can potentially make road freight transportation safer and greener. Technological readiness, business opportunities, and acceptance of truck platooning have mainly been studied for multilane highways with ample truck volumes. Less is known about truck platooning in areas with low traffic volumes and challenging roads and weather conditions. This paper investigates the opportunities and barriers for truck platooning on Norwegian rural freight routes, through stakeholder interviews and realistic case examples. Given modest freight volumes, dispersed industry clusters, and challenging road conditions, this study identified several prerequisites to deploying platooning and achieving economic savings. The paper discusses the future steps required to organize platooning across carriers, ensure appropriate infrastructure, and gain acceptance among truck drivers, motorists, and other road users.