DB Schenker, MAN Truck and Bus and Hochschule Fresenius are deploying networked trucks for the first time in a practical application for the logistics industry.
MAN provided test vehicles for the joint platooning project to DB Schenker at its headquarters in Munich.
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“Autonomous and networked driving will fundamentally change road haulage,” said DB Schenker COO, Ewald Kaiser. “This project will focus on testing platooning for the first time in daily logistics operations. So we’re excited we can now integrate vehicles into operational test runs.”
The cooperative venture established last year, will test truck convoys for a period of several months as part of DB Schenker’s scheduled operations in real traffic scenarios on the A9 freeway between Munich and Nuremberg. This will also be the first time professional lorry drivers from DB Schenker will replace test drivers at the wheel.
Their experiences, assessments and evaluations of platooning are the focal point of the work at Hochschule Fresenius, which is providing scientific support for the test drives as the third partner of the venture. “We want to find out what impact the new technology has on the drivers,” said Hochschule Fresenius head of the Institute for Complex Health Research, Christian Haas.
“The results of the study at the human-machine interface will be fed back directly into developing the technology.” The scenario also offers the opportunity to make general findings in terms of digitalising working conditions.
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By GlobalDataThe vehicle handover signals the start of preparations for the road tests. While recent months have been occupied with producing the test vehicles and equipping them with the additional technical components required for deploying platooning, the focus is now on intensive training of the drivers for their tasks in the project and ultimately on facilitating integration with DB Schenker’s logistics operations.
From April, individual runs of the platoon are planned on the A9. To start, the trucks will be operating without any cargo to investigate driving conditions in the daily flow of traffic and to train drivers involved in the project in operating the vehicles.
The drivers will receive intensive theoretical and practical training from the specialists at MAN ProfiDrive and will practice on a driving simulator. Hochschule Fresenius will be accompanying the drivers and documenting their experiences.
Once the intensive training phase has been completed, there will be weekly, and then daily test runs. These will be extended to include regular operations with actual cargo during the course of 2018. The platoons will then be deployed up to three times daily between DB Schenker logistics centres in Munich and Nuremberg.
Platooning is a road vehicle system in which at least two trucks on the motorway can travel in close succession with the help of technical driving assistance and control systems. All of the vehicles in the platoon are linked to each other by an electronic ‘towbar,’ which uses car-to-car communication where the truck in front sets the speed and direction.
In this context, electronic coupling of the vehicles in the platoon guarantees traffic safety. One essential objective of platooning is to ensure fuel savings for the entire platoon through slip streaming.
