DB Schenker joins Scania and Volvo in multi-brand platooning project

In a new Swedish research project DB Schenker will test platooning with trucks from both Scania and Volvo to reduce carbon emissions and to 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 aim to stay in the forefront in developing autonomous vehicle technology. DB Schenker has therefore teamed up with Scania, Volvo, the Royal Institute of Technology, RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden and the Swedish Transport Administration in the project Sweden4Platooning.

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 can drive 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 aims to demonstrate the feasibility of multi-brand platoons with Scania and Volvo trucks in DB Schenker’s operations.

The three-year research project until December 2019 has a funding of four million euro, of which Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency, together with Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation (FFI) contribute 1,85 million euro.

Project leader for DB Schenker is logistics consultant Viktor Åkesson Åkesson (+46 721 41 68 88, viktor.akesson@dbschenker.com)