SmartPort Community lunchmeeting, March 13, 2018

Date: March 13, 2018
Time: 12.00-13.30
Location: T09-67, Mandeville Building

Speakers: Robbert Janssen (TNO) and Anirudh Kishore Bhoopalam (RSM)

A truck platoon or convoy is a set of trucks that drive close behind each other at short headways made possible by automated driving technologies that assist the drivers in the following trucks by automatically braking, accelerating, and steering depending on the leading truck. The short headway means that the following trucks experience less air resistance, which implies a reduced fuel consumption and consequently, lower emissions. Other benefits of platooning include better utilization of road space, increased safety, and a possible reduction in the labor costs. One can also view platooning as the first step towards automated driving in the open. In this seminar, we will discuss platooning from the practical and academic sides.

Given the multiple benefits of platooning, multiple tests have been conducted and more have been planned. In this talk, we will discuss these tests, different platooning projects, and provide an overview of the practical state of matters concerning platooning.

Academically speaking, most of the research focusing on platooning until date has been from the technical perspective. The efficient planning of platoons is also crucial to be able to reap the benefits of platooning. In the academic part of this seminar, we look at platooning from a transport optimization perspective by classifying truck platooning based on different aspects and discussing the various planning problems that arise.