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Truck and Track
Summer 2019
www.truckandtrack.com16
BUSINESS NEWS
Platooning in the logistics industry:
Researchers see great potential in
real operations after tests
Successful completion of pilot project run by
DB Schenker, MAN Truck & Bus and Fresenius
University of Applied Sciences
Operating electronically linked trucks on Germanmotorways is
safe, technically reliable and easily applicable in the routine of
a logistics company. These are the key results of theworld’s first
field test with truck platoons in real logistics operations, which
the project partners presented in Berlin today.
As part of a research project sponsored by the Federal Ministry of
Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), professional drivers
drove two electronically linked vehicles on the Autobahn 9 between
the Nuremberg and Munich branches of the logistics company DB
Schenker over the course of seven months. Having covered some
35,000 test kilometers, the truck drivers, who drove at a distance of
only 15 to 21 meters, praised the driving comfort and the general
sense of safety. The field test also demonstrated savings in fuel
consumption.
The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI)
contributed funding of approx. 1.86 million euros to the research
project. The project partners, DB Schenker, MAN Truck & Bus and
the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, presented the results
at the Ministry. According to the project partners, the use of truck
platoons could ensure more efficient use of space on motorways,
less congestion and increased road safety.
Andreas Scheuer, Federal Minister for Transport and Digital
Infrastructure said, “The mobility of the future will be automated
and networked. Of course, this is also true for logistics. I therefore
fully support the industry in bringing technologies such as