Truck Platooning Early Deployment Assessment: Phase 2 Test and Evaluation Plan
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Summary
This document outlines the Test and Evaluation Plan for Phase 2 of the Federal Highway Administration’s Truck Platooning Early Deployment Assessment. The project aims to assess the viability of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) technology in commercial freight operations. Building on prior research, the study involves integrating CACC systems into four Volvo trucks leased by fleet partner Roly’s Trucking. The primary objective is to conduct a 12-month Field Operational Test (FOT) along the I-10 and I-20 corridors between Southern California and Texas, using three platooned trucks and one reference truck to evaluate performance, safety, fuel economy, and driver acceptance. The experimental design comprises four sequential stages. First, the PATH team conducted CACC system performance tests to verify technical functionality and component reliability. Second, a Driver Acceptance Test (DAT) involved professional drivers from Roly’s Trucking completing an 850-mile round trip to evaluate system usability, interface clarity, and driver comfort with automation features. Third, an Operational Readiness Test (ORT) validated the entire data collection and monitoring infrastructure, including real-time modem links and data upload protocols. Finally, the FOT was designed to operate the trucks in daily freight logistics, collecting continuous data on platoon behavior, traffic interactions, and driver fatigue using onboard sensors, video cameras, and monitoring systems like SmartCap and Jungo. The evaluation plan details a comprehensive data management strategy. Data acquisition includes engineering metrics from the J-1939 bus, GPS, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), and external traffic sensors. The plan specifies procedures for data health checking, metadata calculation, and secure sharing with the FHWA and an Independent Evaluator via the USDOT Secured Data Commons. Performance measures cover technical system limits, safety scenarios (such as collision mitigation and braking events), fuel efficiency benefits, and human factors, including driver opinions and satisfaction levels. The methodology emphasizes rigorous quality control and the synthesis of lessons learned to inform future deployments. The significance of this work lies in its structured approach to transitioning truck platooning from controlled testing to real-world commercial application. By integrating technical verification with extensive human factors assessment and robust data stewardship, the plan provides a framework for evaluating the operational readiness of connected automated vehicles. The document highlights critical lessons learned, such as the necessity of early manufacturer involvement to resolve hardware-software integration issues, which caused significant project delays. Ultimately, the plan supports the broader goal of assessing the safety, efficiency, and logistical impacts of truck platooning on national freight networks.
Key finding
The document establishes a structured four-stage testing and evaluation plan for assessing CACC truck platooning systems, focusing on technical verification, driver acceptance, operational readiness, and long-term field performance.
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 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 24 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Methodological Resource: tool software, dataset resource, validation psychometrics