Transportation & Innovation
Over the past few months, the transportation industry has made a number of ground-breaking announcements regarding innovation within the sector. These announcements revolve primarily around the introduction of Freightliner's autonomous truck, the Inspiration.
With this new autonomous technology comes myriad opportunities for truck manufacturers to implement new technology that will minimize the risk of accidents and make fuel use more efficient in these large vehicles. Peloton, an automated vehicle technology company, is doing just that by introducing technology that will pair trucks together, supporting freight vehicles with collision avoidance technology and reducing aerodynamic drag as they follow one another. The technology works to benefit both drivers by providing for a safer drive while also reducing cost:
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) also provided commentary on the recent testing of this technology, reporting that "Driver Assistive Truck Platooning can see fuel benefits as high as 10 percent in trailing trucks." ATRI's research also confirmed that this form of fleet travel would have very little impact on traffic flows, and in fact, could improve the flow of traffic in certain conditions.
The next step in testing this technology falls with the drivers, themselves. ATRI mentions that phase 2 of their platooning project will gauge "human factors," such as driver satisfaction, driver training requirements and driver operational experiences.
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