Follow the leader

May 6, 2016
Platooning technology is ready, but are fleets and the public?

With awe-inspiring videos filling news outlets, truck platooning is something of a media darling right now—even though it’s been around in various forms for decades.

Most of the earlier takes revolved around the Intelligent Transportation System initiatives that sprang up in the 1980s. But for me, platooning began evolving from theory to reality with a European project in 2010 called

SARTRE, a tortured acronym I still hold was a sly joke by its developers referring to the Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre’s most famous work, the play No Exit.  That project demonstrated the state of platooning technology by having a tractor-trailer lead a platoon of three automobiles down a highway in Spain. 

Late last year, a California company called Peloton Technologies demonstrated its platooning technology over the road in Nevada. Founded by Stanford University engineers who have worked on, among other projects, Tesla’s electric car powertrain, the company has received investment support from major trucking industry players including Volvo, Denso, and UPS. That pedigree bodes well for Peloton’s eventual success in creating a marketable platooning technology in the not-too-distant future.

Back in Europe, truck platooning really began to heat up this spring. In March, Daimler Trucks held a splashy press event to show off Highway Pilot Connect on a public highway. Incorporating the company’s autonomous truck technology, its version allows a three-truck formation to navigate midday traffic not only in a platoon, but in semi-autonomous operation with drivers neither steering nor controlling the brakes and throttles.  

Then last month, the Dutch government organized the 2016 European Truck Platooning Challenge.

With DAF, Daimler, Iveco, Man, Scania, and Volvo each providing multi-tractor platoons, the six groups crossed six countries in total as they all made their way to Rotter­dam and the waiting cameras.  Here, the point wasn’t just to demonstrate the capability of the technology but to also highlight the ability of various government and roadway authorities to provide the support needed to cross national boundaries and navigate different highway networks.

So enthusiasm for truck platooning is running high at the moment, but there is at least one skeptic out there—and given his credentials in this area, that skepticism carries some weight.  Alain Kornhauser might be a familiar name to you; he created the truck mapping and routing software company ALK Technologies.  But that was just a part-time job. 

Kornhauser is also a professor of operations engineering and director of the transportation program at Princeton University. He once led a group of undergraduates through a successful entry in the DARPA autonomous vehicle challenge, doing better than most of the other entrants who were drawing on graduate engineering programs and millions of research dollars from the major automakers. In short, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone more knowledgeable about the issues surrounding platooning.

“I still don’t get it,” he says in response to the Dutch event, calling it little more than a photo-op.

Since potential platoon members have to be traveling the same routes at the same time and fitted with the same technology, he sees the potential benefits as “infinitesimal” and the downside of “freaking out” others on the roadways large. “I still contend that pushing platooning at such an early stage when we haven’t even begun to promote and to capture the benefits of the underlying intelligent cruise control… is a substantive liability,” Kornhauser says.

Sometimes we can use a bit of skepticism before jumping on a flashy new bandwagon.  

About the Author

Jim Mele

Jim Mele is a former longtime editor-in-chief of FleetOwner. He joined the magazine in 1986 and served as chief editor from 1999 to 2017. 

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of FleetOwner, create an account today!

Sponsored Recommendations

The Road Ahead: 2025 Trucking and Fleet Insights

Discover how fleet operators are impacted by challenges like driver onboarding delays and complex compliance, and the critical need for technology to boost efficiency and cut ...

Driving Growth: How to Manage More Freight

Ready to grow your trucking business? Whether you have 25 or 200 trucks, this guide offers practical tips and success stories to help you expand with confidence. Discover how ...

How to Maximize Fleet Management with Vehicle Bypass

Join us on February 18th to learn how truck weigh station bypass systems boost fleet performance and driver satisfaction.

Optimizing your fleet safety program using AI

Learn how AI supports fleet safety programs with tools for compliance monitoring, driver coaching and incident analysis to reduce risks and improve efficiency.