A road train project to explore the energy-saving potential of vehicle platooning has successfully completed the first test demonstrations of the technique.
The SATRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project run by Ricardo, Volvo and the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden among other industry partners has now tested a fleet including a lead truck followed by three cars driven autonomously at speed of up to 90km/h (55mph) with no more than 6 metres gap between the vehicles.
The idea is that some time in the future, professional drivers could lead a platoon of vehicles, with the driver in the lead vehicle taking control of the entire road train, leaving drivers in following vehicles free to do as they wish; read, relax, whatever.
Road trains could make motorway and highway journeys safer by allowing a professional driver to control a line of vehicles and would make journeys more fuel efficient, improve the flow of traffic and reducing conflict between drivers. Environmental impact would be reduced since the cars follow close behind each other and benefit from the lower air drag. The energy saving is expected to be in the region of up to 20 per cent.
“The successful completion of the first multiple vehicle tests of the SARTRE system is a significant achievement,” commented SARTRE project director, Tom Robinson of Ricardo UK. “This has allowed us to demonstrate the operation of SARTRE road train technology to key industry experts and to capture their responses, all of which were very encouraging. The demonstration system provides us with a solid foundation for further consideration of the challenges of bringing road trains to reality”.
"A challenge has been to develop reliable communication between the vehicles in the platoon. Vehicle to vehicle communication is essential to ensure safety at high speeds and short vehicle spacing, “ says Carl Bergenhem, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden.
The project is now entering its final phase, with the project partners now hoping that by autumn 2012, they will be able to demonstrate four vehicles after a lead vehicle driving at 55mph.
