Transformers Deja-Vu: A Fleet Of Driverless Trucks Wandered 7 Days Through Europe

We might have to wait a while before vehicles start thinking on their own, transforming at wheel, but the days of driverless cars that tour a continent in organized teams is here. A fleet of trucks just completed yesterday a seven-days trial of driverless wandering through the Old Continent.

Vehicles from trusted manufacturers like Volvo and Daimler took off from three European countries with one goal – to get by themselves to Rotterdam, Netherlands, in a week. Scania trucks, made by Volkswagen, registered 2000 km under their “belts” and four borders crossed. Like I said, this fleet didn’t just start their engines in a Transformers move but in an intentional effort of conquering the European Truck Platooning Challenge, organized by the Dutch government.

Platooning is the term used when trucks follow one another, in an autonomous fashion. Connected to each other by wi-fi, they can leave a smaller gap between one another, can reduce fuel use by up to 15% and congestion while preventing human errors. 

Dirk-Jan de Bruijn, the platooning challenge program director, says the self-driving trucks will be used by Unilever in a program that requires them to transport goods from Rotterdam across Europe. If they succeed, Bruijn next objective will be to make an official roadmap for the trucks that solves the problem of different brands platooning (since each of them uses a different wi-fi system) and that of different country standards.