ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) is asking fleets to weigh in with their input on truck platooning and its potential to reduce fuel costs.

Drivers and motor carriers are being asked to take a survey by Dec. 8, available at www.atri-online.org.

Driver Assistive Truck Platooning is a concept based on a system that controls inter-vehicle spacing based on information from forward-looking radars and direct vehicle-to-vehicle communications. Braking and other operational data is exchanged between the trucks, enabling the control system to automatically adjust engine and brakes in real-time.

“When trucks are platooning at highway speed, several academic and industry studies have demonstrated fuel economy improvements in the range of 4-8% for the lead truck and 10-12% for the following trucks (compared to driving the same route without platooning),” ATRI indicates. “The purpose of this survey is to identify how truck fleets could potentially make use of truck platooning and what constraints to adoption may exist.”