Sweden 4 Platooning
DB Schenker joins Scania and Volvo in multi-brand platooning project
In a Swedish research project, DB Schenker tested platooning with trucks from both Scania and Volvo to reduce carbon emissions and improve goods transport efficiency. The full potential of platooning can only be realized when trucks from different manufacturers communicate and find each other.
Authorities, academia, and corporations in Sweden aimed to stay at the forefront of developing autonomous vehicle technology. DB Schenker teamed up with Scania, Volvo, the Royal Institute of Technology, RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden, and the Swedish Transport Administration in the project Sweden 4 Platooning.
When trucks can drive closely behind one another, fuel economy is improved as a result of the reduction in drag. Using wireless technology, the trucks drove with only about a one-second gap between the vehicles in a platoon. Platooning will only have broad market reach if systems are harmonized across all brands with reliable and robust communication in all traffic situations. The project demonstrated the feasibility of multi-brand platoons with Scania and Volvo trucks in DB Schenker’s operations.
The three-year research project, which concluded in December 2019, had a funding of four million euros, of which Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency, together with Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation (FFI), contributed 1.85 million euros.