European and American organisations are collaborating to support the public deployment of partially automated truck platoons.
The findings of this international partnership between ENSEMBLE partners and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are described in the November issue of the ITE - Institute of Transportation Engineers- Journal linked here. Starting at page 35, it emerges how the research project started with an assessment of the drivers' common knowledge regarding truck platooning. As a matter of fact, the term "platoon" was not very familiar and the concept of "convoy" was the most selected when asked to define a group of automated trucks. Then, a sign evaluation took place demonstrating that trucks with signs or light bars were perceived as safer by participants. Overall, the combination between roadside-mounted and truck-mounted signs was successfully perceived and positively influenced drivers' perception of truck operations. The foundations provided by the data collected by ENSEMBLE partners and the FHWA are solid but further research is needed to explore in detail the effects of partially automated truck platooning on non-truck diver behaviour.
Check out the article on the ITE journal linked in the text or download the PDF and find out more about challenges, findings and next steps of this collaboration.