Commercial Truck Platooning – Level 2 Automation: Project Summary

Kuhn, Beverly; Poorsartep, Mo · 2016 · ROSA P / Texas A&M Transportation Institute

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Summary

This project summary outlines the findings of a study funded by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). The research addresses the high operational costs associated with line-haul trucking, specifically focusing on fuel consumption. At 65 mph, approximately 65 percent of a truck’s fuel is expended to overcome aerodynamic drag. While current fleet technologies yield only 1 to 2 percent efficiency gains, research indicates that truck platooning can achieve 5 to 20 percent fuel savings, depending on variables such as gap distance, speed, and vehicle position within the platoon. Beyond fuel efficiency, platooning offers benefits including emission reductions, enhanced safety features, and increased highway throughput. The study specifically investigated Level 2 automation, defined as an extension of cooperative adaptive cruise control that utilizes automated lateral and longitudinal vehicle control to maintain tight formations with short following distances. In this configuration, a manually driven lead truck guides the platoon, allowing drivers of following vehicles to disengage from driving tasks and monitor system performance. The primary objective was to assess the feasibility of deploying two-vehicle truck platoons on specific Texas corridors within a five-to-ten-year timeframe. The TTI team collaborated with government agencies, national laboratories, truck manufacturers, and equipment suppliers. Their methodology involved documenting lessons from previous platooning projects, identifying potential regulatory or legislative barriers, and exploring implementation scenarios within existing infrastructure. Crucially, the team developed, tested, and demonstrated the platooning technology as a proof of concept. This culminated in a full-scale demonstration workshop held in July 2016 in College Station, Texas, designed to disseminate results, gather stakeholder feedback, and facilitate future development. The researchers successfully demonstrated that two commercial trucks could operate as a platoon at low speeds while maintaining a predetermined following distance. The proof-of-concept event included a series of complex maneuvers, such as joining a platoon from a stop, driving in a figure-eight path, executing left and right lane changes, increasing the gap between vehicles, and stopping in formation. These successful maneuvers validated the concept that commercial trucks can effectively platoon using Level 2 automation. The significance of this work lies in its role as a proactive assessment of innovative operational strategies, positioning TxDOT as a leader in connected and automated vehicle initiatives. The demonstration serves as a foundation for future phases, which may involve developing concepts of operations and design requirements for platooning systems and corridors in Texas. Ultimately, the project sets the stage for the full-scale deployment of commercial truck platooning applications on major freight corridors across the state.

Key finding

Two commercial trucks successfully operated as a Level 2 platoon at low speed, joining from a stop, changing lanes, increasing the gap, and stopping in formation.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (9 acquisition events logged).

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• truck driver fatigue