WATCH: Autonomous Trucks Drive Across Europe

WATCH: Autonomous Trucks Drive Across Europe

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A fleet of trucks drove across Europe at the beginning of April. This wouldn’t be frontpage news if it weren’t for the fact that the trucks were all autonomous and participating in groundbreaking exercise.

Trucks from Volvo, Daimler, and other manufacturers set off from their bases in three European countries to arrive in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 6 April. The Volkswagen truck drove more than 2,000 km.

This all happened as part of the European Truck Platooning Challenge, organised by the Dutch government.

Autonomous vehicles meant for personal use (like those from Ford and Google) surely garner more excitement in the public, but some heavy lifting is being done by the guys that build commercial vehicles. Trucking is set to be one of the industries most disrupted by autonomous vehicles, and manufacturers have been hard at work without making much noise.

“Platooning” refers to trucks autonomously following each other. In this formation, they’re all connected to each other via WiFi. The synchronised nature of the drive allows the trucks to keep the distances between them much smaller than humans would, which allows for fuel use to be reduced by up to 15 percent, according to a study by research firm TNO. Additional benefits are reduced congestion and traffic accidents from human error. This can save companies a lot of money. Just two trucks platooning for 160,000 km in a year can save $6,800 on fuel alone, according to TNO.

While this challenge was a success, it may take some time before these trucks drive freely across Europe. Bureaucracy is a significant hurdle to overcome, and it could be years until these trucks are approved for general use.