Engineering news
Six platoons of semi-automated trucks have successfully completed their journeys from various European cities, reaching their final destination of the Port of Rotterdam.
The vehicles were participating in the European Truck Platooning Challenge, organised by the Netherlands as part of its EU Presidency, to put the subject high on the agenda of policy makers.
Truck manufacturers DAF Trucks, Daimler Trucks, Iveco, MAN Truck & Bus, Scania and Volvo each provided one of the platoons. They departed from their home base or production location: Scania left from Södertalje in Sweden, Volvo started from Gothenburg, Daimler departed from Stuttgart and MAN from Munich. Meanwhile, Iveco’s platoon commenced its journey in Brussels and DAF from their production location in Westerlo, Belgium.
There are still a number of barriers standing in the way of the roll-out of truck platooning across Europe, caused by differences in legislation between EU member states.
Harrie Schippers, president of DAF Trucks, said: “Harmonisation is needed if we want a wide-scale introduction of platooning. It is precisely for this reason that we believe that the European Truck Platooning Challenge has been a huge success: it has fostered much-needed cooperation between all relevant stakeholders right across the EU, facilitating cross-border driving, and encouraging compatibility on legal and technical issues.
“We look forward to harvesting the learnings from this initiative so that, together, we can make truck platoons a common sight on Europe’s roads in the future.”
Melanie Schulz, the Dutch minister for Infrastructure and the Environment who spearheaded this initiative, added: “The results of this first ever major try-out in Europe are promising. The hands-on experience gained here will be very useful in the informal European transport council on 14 April in Amsterdam. It will certainly help my colleagues and I discuss the adjustments needed to make self-driving transport a reality.”
Following the Truck Platooning Challenge, there have been some encouraging expressions of interest from the business community and the transport sector, including Unilever.