ARLINGTON, VA and SOUTHFIELD, MI —  The concept of using wireless communication along roadways and in trucks to pair big rigs so they travel closely together has taken two steps forward.

The vehicle technology supplier Denso International America Inc., along with Intel Capital, has entered into a US$16 million investment agreement with Peloton Technology, to help accelerate Peloton’s development and deployment of platooning technology.

The deal, which was finalized late last month, but just announced this week, aims to increase fuel economy and improve safety for the global trucking industry, according to Michigan-based Denso.

Platooning technology uses vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) wireless communication and radar to pair trucks so they travel closely together, creating an aerodynamic system that is similar to drafting in race cars.

The direct communication system provides a way for trucks to ‘talk’ with each other and safely follow another truck with the same features, to improve braking and acceleration time, increase safety and reduce fuel costs.

According to the company, field-testing shows truck platooning could potentially help large fleet vehicles reduce fuel consumption by 10% for the rear truck and 4.5% for the front truck.

“As a leader in vehicle-to-vehicle technologies, we are eager to work closely with Peloton to implement the first large-scale deployment of a V2V system,” said Tony Cannestra, director of corporate ventures for Denso International America Inc. “Denso believes that Peloton’s system has the potential to help increase safety and fuel savings in the transportation industry.”

According to the company, it has been researching and developing V2X technology systems for more than 10 years to allow cars to communicate with surrounding vehicles and traffic signals.

New Research Assesses Potential for Truck Platooning

The news from Denso came nearly the same time the American Transportation Research Institute said the first phase of a report on what is needed to develop and access vehicle platooning in trucking was released.

The Driver-Assistive Truck Platooning initiative is a project funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Exploratory Advanced Research program.

It uses radar, vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and video technologies to decrease over-the-road truck headways, with the objective of improving fuel economy without compromising safety, according to the Virginia-based ATRI.

The DATP research team is led by Auburn University and includes ATRI, the non-profit research arm of the American Trucking Associations, along with Bishop Consulting, Peloton Technology, Peterbilt Trucks and Meritor Wabco.

The study found by using truck platooning, there can be up to a 10% improvement fuel economy for the trailing truck and up to a 5% improvement fuel economy for the leading truck.

Other study findings include:

• Truckload and line-haul less-than-truckload operations would likely be the greatest beneficiaries of a platooning system, particularly among larger fleets;
• Fleets and drivers who operate average truck trips of more than 500 miles would experience the highest returns on investment from platooning;
• Modelers at Auburn University, confirmed that platooning would not negatively impact traffic flows, and could improve traffic flows, if truck market penetration reached 60%;
• Platoon formation in some operations appears to be feasible, based on a case study using actual truck movement data from ATRI’s truck GPS database; and
• Small fleets and owner-operators required an investment payback period of 10 months, while larger fleets had a mean payback expectation of 18 months.

In the second phase of the DATP project, the research team will be conducting both test-track and on-road pilot testing of the system. They will monitor and assess a variety of human factors including driver satisfaction, driver training requirements and driver operational experiences.

The Driver-Assistive Truck Platooning Phase One report is available on the ATRI website.