Truck Platooning: Making Highway Routes Safer and More Efficient
- [On-screen text]: Peter de Langen - Truck Platooning: safer, more efficient and sustainable road routes.
- Peter de Langen (Founder of Ports & Logistics Advisory): "The technology is already here. So we are not talking about something very futuristic, no."
- [Visual]: 3D animation of several autonomous trucks platooning along a highway.
- Peter de Langen: "A truck can send signals to another truck so that it performs the exact same movement as the leading truck. That's why, technologically, a second driver is not needed. Furthermore, if we do the math, the system will reduce the number of accidents, because the vast majority of accidents are caused by human error."
- [On-screen text]: The benefits of truck platooning are manifold: lower energy consumption, reduced labor costs, or greater route safety.
- Peter de Langen: "And with this system, later on, we can generate the benefits that platooning offers, such as lower fuel consumption costs... And in a second phase, labor costs, because either a second driver is not needed or the time that this driver spends in the truck doesn't have to count as active time, but as passive time. Therefore, once the platoon splits, this driver can drive without being obligated to stop."
- Peter de Langen: "The challenge is introducing it—introducing this technology. And ports play a major role here, because this implementation will never be incremental, but rather a huge leap forward. We will be capable of forming 100 platoons per day from Barcelona along an inland corridor."
- Peter de Langen: "The challenge is this: creating a coalition of companies that ultimately decide to invest in a fleet of trucks equipped with platooning capabilities and certified technology."
- [On-screen text]: Truck platooning, a small part of a big revolution.
- Peter de Langen: "In a way, this platooning is part of something larger. To understand the impact, one must understand all these individual components and then see how they converge into a new system."
- [Visual]: Footage of connected MAN trucks undergoing testing and software analytics displayed inside the cab.
- Peter de Langen: "And that's where platooning comes in, Big Data comes in, autonomous cars come in, hands-free automated logistics in warehouses comes in, Industry 4.0 comes in... Step by step, we are moving in this direction, and for every port, the challenge is to move forward and innovate fast."
- [Visual outro]: PierNext logo (Innovation by Port de Barcelona).