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Home » Platooning

Platooning

 

Autonomous Platooning – An initial trial of Cohda’s autonomous platooning technology at Australia’s newest motor-racing circuit, The Bend Motorsport Park, just outside Adelaide. The video demonstrates two autonomous vehicles following a lead vehicle around the track at a gap of 20m. Subsequent tests confirmed Cohda’s platooning solution can deliver impressive gap management of 16ft (5m) + 0.4 seconds at 59 mph (95 km/hr).

 

The world continues to rely heavily on trucks and other road freight vehicles to transport goods between cities, countries and continents.   With millions of heavy vehicles on our roads, the demand for safe, effective and versatile platooning solutions has never been greater.   This is why we are applying our connected autonomous vehicle technology to develop an advanced truck platooning solution for the global trucking industry that we believe will shape the introduction of truck platooning standards globally such as those being developed by the ENSEMBLE project in Europe.

To be effective, platooning solutions must be robust and accommodate a broad variety of real-life conditions and circumstances without compromising the efficacy of the platooning system.  The challenge with platooning solutions is that, until now, they have been exclusively reliant on sensor technology to govern the system, which limits its robustness.

Cohda is conducting trials involving the integration of its connected autonomous vehicle technology to the ETSI (ENSEMBLE) platooning software stack which is already enabling a revolutionary range of functional benefits including:

  • The ability of trucks to safely drive autonomously in a platoon incorporating Impressive gap management of 16ft (5m) +0.4 seconds at 59 mph (95 km/hr)
  • The ability of truck platoons to operate safely and accurately even in city environments due to the incorporation of Cohda’s unique V2X-Locate technology which enables accurate positioning even in environments where GNSS doesn’t work well.
  • The provision of an extended perception horizon for each truck in the platoon due to the trucks being connected to each other through Cohda’s connected vehicle technology and not just ‘aware’ of each other’s physical presence through sensor technology.
  • The ability for trucks to join and leave an active platoon without disrupting the system.
  • The ability of the platooning system to detect and accommodate other vehicles without compromising the system.
  • The ability for trucks to operate efficiently (smooth acceleration and moderate braking) when connected in the platoon.
  • The ability for trucks to brake in unison (cooperative braking) as opposed to a daisy-chain system due to all vehicles being connected to each other.  For example, if a truck that is leading a platoon brakes, the other trucks in the platoon receive instant notification and will also brake almost instantaneously, as opposed to reacting to the vehicle in front of it.

Note – The vehicles used in this demonstration are Cohda’s own self-driving development vehicles.   At the time of producing this video, trucks capable of autonomous operation were not available to us in Australia.

Exiting and Joining Platoon:

Exiting and Joining Platoon – To be effective, platooning solutions must be robust and accommodate a broad variety of real-life conditions and circumstances without compromising the efficacy of the platooning system. Many platooning solutions lack robustness because the system disengages entirely when one vehicle leaves the platoon as the system relies on sensor technology. This video demonstrates how a truck (as demonstrated with a Cohda Self-Driving Development Vehicle) can leave the platoon and re-join it later without affecting the integrity of the platooning system. Note that when the second-placed vehicle exits the platoon, the third vehicle autonomously accelerates to reduce the gap. When the vehicle that exited the platoon wants to re-join, it approaches the ‘landing pad’ behind the last vehicle in the platoon and submits a request to re-join.

S-Curve Autonomous Platooning:

S-Curve Autonomous Platooning – A trial demonstrating Cohda’s platooning stack with integrated Cohda special sensors. Cohda’s V2X technology connects the vehicles whilst its V2X-Locate technology adds even more value by enabling accurate vehicle positioning. This example demonstrates how the lead vehicle lays a virtual track for the others to follow by relaying its position up to 30 times per second to the vehicle/s following.