Planning of Truck Platoons: a Literature Review and Directions for Future Research

A truck platoon is a set of virtually linked trucks that drive closely behind one another using automated driving technology. Benefits of truck platooning include cost savings, reduced emissions, and more efficient utilization of road capacity. To fully reap these benefits in the initial phases requires careful planning of platoons based on trucks’ itineraries and time schedules. This paper provides a framework to classify various new transportation planning problems that arise in truck platooning, surveys relevant operations research models for these problems in the literature and identifies directions for future research

Spatial and Temporal Synchronization of Truck Platoons

Truck platooning technology allows trucks to drive at short headways to save fuel and associated emissions. However, fuel savings from platooning are relatively small so forming platoons should be convenient and with minimum detour and delays. In this paper, we focus on developing optimization technology to match trucks into platoons. We formulate a mathematical program for the platoon routing problem with time windows (PRP-TW) based on a time-space network. We provide polynomial time algorithms to solve special cases of the PRP-TW with 2-truck platoons. Based on these special cases, we build several fast heuristics for the PRP-TW and show that these heuristics perform well. Moreover, we show that simple 2-truck platoons already capture most of the potential savings of platooning

The long road to automated trucking: Insights from driver focus groups

With the rapid progress of automated driving technology, self-driving vehicles are on the horizon. In this study, we look at what is likely to be the first implementation of a form of automated driving on public roads, i.e., truck platooning, where virtually connected trucks drive at short headways to save fuel and associated emissions. With progressing technology, we may see platoons with drivers resting while being in the truck or even platoons in which not all trucks require drivers. Hence, platooning technology has a significant impact on the jobs of truck drivers. Driver acceptance of this emerg- ing technology is therefore an important factor in the implementation of platooning and, consequently, automated driving in general. In this study, we explore the range of per- spectives that exist among drivers by conducting focus groups in the Netherlands. These discussions indicate that drivers foresee that platooning will eventually become a reality but believe it will have a negative impact on the quality of their work and their job satisfaction