You’ve probably heard some talk of driverless cars, but now a Japanese organization has taken the concept one step further with driverless trucks.
On February 25, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) demonstrated new technologies that can control the steering and speeds of unmanned trucks in such a way that they would run in a specific formation.
How the unmanned trucks work
NEDO supplied the trucks with duplexed systems that allow important functions to make this work.
The organization worked on milliwave and infrared laser radars so that the trucks could detect obstacles in front of them. Using cameras and infrared lasers, they can also recognize white lines. The trucks are equipped with a 5.8-GHz wireless communication module and infrared communication module that allow them to communicate with other vehicles.
The team also set up a control unit featuring two printed circuit boards with a fail-safe function to keep track of calculation results.
In the demonstration, held at the North Site of Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the group ran three autonomous trucks 13 ft. apart at a speed of 50 mph. The trucks followed directly behind a lead truck operated by a human.
What does this have to do with fuel consumption?
NEDO thinks that this new technology can decrease fuel consumption by at least 15%. Their theory springs from the idea that if you keep the trucks running at a constant speed in a straight line and all the same distance apart, then you could take advantage of the slipstream effect, which would decrease drag and significantly reduce fuel consumption. The slipstream effect implies that an object moving behind another object at the same speed will require less power to maintain its speed than if it were moving independently.
Although this sounds exciting, don’t expect to see driverless trucks on the road during your morning commute. NEDO hopes to have a practical version of this automated driving system ready by 2020. The team will engage in more testing later this year.
For a view from the driver's seat of the unmanned trucks, watch the video below.