Study of communication needs in interaction between trucks and surrounding traffic in platooning
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | RISE VIKTORIA AB - RISE VIKTORIA AB - Göteborg |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 500 000 |
| Project duration | October 2016 - May 2017 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Strategic Innovation Program Drive Sweden |
Important results from the project
The goal of the project is to extract the needs for external signaling of trucks that drive in platoons to avoid unaware cut-ins, by following up experiences and behavior patterns of traffic in earlier platooning projects. The project is also aiming at identifying use-cases where the effect of external signaling can be evaluated. Further, the goal is to calculate the loss of fuel saving that is lost due to cut-ins from surrounding traffic. All project goals are fulfilled.
Expected long term effects
The project did not find any straightforward need to introduce extern signaling on trucks in platoons. The behavior in traffic differs significantly between US and Europe. Naturalistic studies in the US indicate that there are no cut-ins between truck with a following distance of 30 m or less. In Europe there are cut ins already at distances of 22 m where trucks use ACC for platooning. There is a potential to save fule if cut-ins are avoided. Use-cases that may be used for evaluation in simulations or naturalistic studies are: on-ramps, overtaking, lane change at road-works and off-ramps.
Approach and implementation
The project was carried out in four parts: (i) Interview and workshops to identify any needs of external signaling (ii) literature review and interviews to follow up experiences from previous platooning projects and behavior of truck drivers (iii) identification of ways to evaluate external signaling based on interaction with road users and (iv) based on experimental data estimate the potential loss of fuel saving caused by cut-ins. The subjective data should be complemented with quantitative naturalistic data in a follow up project.