Group project: Iveco tested multi-brand faction technology

Ulm. Project Ensemble, co-financed by the European Union and led by the independent Dutch research organization TNO, was launched in June 2018 with the aim of developing, testing and validating cross-branding secure platoon technology and the feasibility of offering it under real traffic conditions and integrating C-ITS communications services. To achieve this goal, the consortium includes the six largest European truck manufacturers, namely the European Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) organization ERTICO, the European Automobile Suppliers Association (CLEPA) and knowledge partners such as Gustav-Eiffel University and the combined Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

New technologies are emerging from the project

The results of the now completed project have now been presented to the public by the group’s consortium in Brussels. As part of the project, cross-brand technology was developed in coordination with the participating truck OEMs. This also included a secure Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication protocol specification to ensure the correct behavior and reaction of every truck in the platoon in every traffic situation. This technology was successfully deployed in real traffic conditions on September 23, 2021 in Spain, in the Barcelona region, when seven trucks prepared by the respective manufacturers drove together in a fully coordinated platoon.

The project also identified two functions of a truck platoon: platoon as a support function (PSF), based on proven technology and capable of handling all use cases encountered in today’s traffic, and platoon as a standalone function (PAF – platoon as a standalone function), the intermediate step towards a fully autonomous truck , which has been identified only theoretically so far. (paste)