Daimler tests platooning on the autobahn

One hundred and twenty years after the invention of the
truck, Daimler Trucks is bringing the truck into the internet. 

 Around 365,000 Daimler trucks around the world are already
connected via the FleetBoard and Detroit Connect systems. Daimler says that the
completely connected truck initiates a radical change in transport which will
make road goods traffic even more effective and efficient.

Daimler Trucks is systematically implementing this goal:
since 2013 connectivity has been an established part of its corporate strategy.
To this end the company is investing around half a billion euros in the
connection of its trucks, and in the creation of associated new services and
digital solutions, in the next five years alone.

Recently, on the A52 autobahn near Düsseldorf, Daimler
Trucks presented an impressive example of the possibilities opened up by the
digital connection of trucks: Three WiFi-connected, autonomously driving trucks
operated on the autobahn with authorisation for public traffic as a ‘platoon’.
Such a combination can reduce fuel consumption by up to seven per cent and the
road space requirement on motorways by almost half; while improving traffic
safety at the same time. Based on the Daimler Trucks Highway Pilot system for
autonomously driving heavy trucks, the three trucks link up to form an
aerodynamic, fully automated platoon. Daimler Trucks calls this advanced system
development Highway Pilot Connect.

Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the Board of Management of
Daimler AG with responsibility for Daimler Trucks & Buses, explains: “We
are connecting the truck with the internet – making it the mobile data centre
of the logistics network. It connects all those involved in goods: drivers,
schedulers, fleet operators, workshops, manufacturers and insurance companies
or authorities. They receive information in real time which was previously
unavailable: about the condition of the tractor unit and semitrailer, traffic
and weather conditions, the parking availability at motorway service stations,
rest areas and much more."

FleetBoard has been a leader in telematics services for
trucks for 15 years – in future it will be the nucleus of the new unit Digital
Solutions & Services

Connectivity is no new territory for Daimler Trucks. The
subsidiary FleetBoard has been setting standards in telematics for
Mercedes-Benz since 2000, and is among the world's most successful and
innovative providers. FleetBoard collects a wealth of data from the vehicle and
sends it to headquarters via mobile phone. FleetBoard offers a host of
individual services for fleet, order and driver management, which can be
tailored and packaged to customer specifications. At present there are around
180,000 vehicles with FleetBoard systems in operation with around 6000
customers. And FleetBoard not only connects Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Other
vehicle brands can also be retrofitted with the FleetBoard hardware at any
time, and easily integrated into the logistics management system. Which means
that even companies with mixed fleets can keep track of their entire fleet at
all times.

"When the first iPhone was introduced in November 2007,
our customers had already been using FleetBoard for seven years. For over 15
years they have now been able to control their fleet and driver management efficiently
both in their Mercedes-Benz trucks and in those from other manufacturers.
Nobody has greater experience in this field than Mercedes-Benz Trucks,"
says Stefan Buchner, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

With the world premiere of the Highway Pilot Connect system,
Daimler Trucks recently gave a live presentation exemplifying the advantages of
electronic vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) networking on the A52 autobahn near
Düsseldorf, and also of the next milestone in autonomous driving: the
technology allows electronic docking by vehicles on motorways and long-distance
highways, known as platooning.

Connected vehicles in a platoon require a
distance of only 15 instead of 50 metres between them. This considerably
smaller distance produces a significant reduction in aerodynamic drag –
comparable to slipstream riding in cycling competitions. In this way a platoon
of three trucks can achieve a fuel saving of around seven per cent, reducing
CO2 emissions in the same measure.

This makes fuel consumption figures of around 25 l/100km
possible for a loaded semi-trailer combination with a gross weight of 40t. This
corresponds to a consumption of only 0.66 l/100km per tonne, or CO2 emissions
of 13.3g per kilometre per tonne. Well below the figures for any passenger car
with an internal combustion engine.

The basis of Highway Pilot Connect is networking between
vehicles and precise awareness of the surroundings. Highway Pilot Connect is a
further development of the well-tried Highway Pilot system by Daimler Trucks.
This system allows trucks to drive semi-autonomously, and has been under test
since October 2015, in a standard Mercedes-Benz Actros operating on public
roads in Germany. The Highway Pilot was first presented in July 2014, in the
Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 study, followed by the very first public road
authorisation for an autonomously driving truck in May 2015, for the Freightliner
Inspiration Truck.