Autonomous Truck Convoy Drives Itself Across Europe

Breaker 1-9, we got ourselves an autonomous convoy…

A fleet (around twelve) of semi trucks recently crossed Europe utilizing autonomous driving modes – the first time ever on the mainland. It’s all a part of the European Truck Platooning Challenge, an intricate occasion sorted out by the Dutch government that would like to bind together the car business and commercial trucking.

“Platooning,” or the demonstration of autonomous vehicles taking after each other, convoying affects proficiency: it’s less expensive than driving on cruise control, and as indicated by Quartz’s reporting of a TNO study, it can likewise “lessen fuel use by up to 15%, keep human error from causing accidents and reduce congestion.”  Another take away is that it may drive down auto insurance rates.




Around twelve trucks from significant makers like Volvo and Daimler simply finished a week of to a great extent self-sufficient driving crosswise over Europe, the main such real practice on the landmass.

The trucks set off from their bases in three European nations and finished their adventures in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on April 6.  One arrangement of trucks, made by the Volkswagen backup Scania, voyaged more than 2,000 km and crossed four fringes to arrive.

The trucks were participating in the European Truck Platooning Challenge, sorted out by the Dutch government as one of the huge occasions for its 2016 administration of the European Union. While self-driving autos from Google or Ford get the greater part of the credit for catching the general population creative ability, business utilizes for independent or about self-governing vehicles, similar to tractors from John Deere, have been discreetly giving the idea something to do in a business setting.

At the point when trucks self-rulingly tail each other, it’s called “platooning.” They’re associated by wifi and can leave a much littler hole between vehicles than when people are in the driver’s seat. Platooning can decrease fuel use by up to 15%, keep human mistake from bringing on mischances, and lessen clog, as indicated by a study by examination firm TNO. It likewise can decrease costs. Two trucks timing 100,000 miles every year can spare €6,000 on fuel by platooning, contrasted with driving on voyage control, as per TNO.

That is the reason the Dutch set up the involved truck-driving occasion, to pull together everybody with a stake in making them drive trucks out and about. That incorporates transportation authorities, truck creators, officials of organizations with critical logistics needs (counting Unilever and DHL), and scholastics and scientists.

“We now have tremendous vitality in the system and the thought is that we will go to genuine cases. Organizations like Unilever are wanting to begin these cases in 2017,” says Dirk-Jan de Bruijn, the platooning test’s system chief.

In the event that all goes to arrange, self-driving trucks will get merchandise from the port of Rotterdam and convey them crosswise over Europe in a trial by Unilever and different organizations.

Be that as it may, the guards should first effectively explore Europe’s organizations. Bruijn’s next objective is to get everybody to approve a guide for the following five years. This would address the specialized issues, for example, the failure for trucks from various brands to detachment together (they all utilization distinctive wifi frameworks); and additionally administrative issues, such as requiring platooning trucks to meet diverse guidelines in every European nation.

“The test is obviously not an end point, but rather a beginning stage. It’s another commencement,” Bruijn said.



If all goes to plan, self-driving trucks will pick up goods from the port of Rotterdam and deliver them across Europe in a trial by Unilever and other companies.
Curated from A fleet of trucks just drove themselves across Europe — Quartz

“As the test shows, the technology has come a long way already,” said Dutch Infrastructure and Environment Minister Schultz van Hagen. “What it also makes clear is that we Europeans need to better harmonise rules of the road and rules for drivers. This will open the door for upscaled, cross-border truck platooning.”
Curated from Driverless truck convoy platoons across Europe – CNET

The trucks are linked via Wi-Fi, which allows them to brake faster than a human driver could. The responsiveness of each truck within the platoon is estimated at 25 times faster than the average human reaction time of one second – saving critical time in case of emergency braking.
Curated from A fleet of self-driving trucks rumbles across Europe | Computerworld