Platooning trial (finally) commences in UK

Back in August 2017, the UK government announced an £8.1m (US$9.85m) project to conduct public trials of truck platoons. “This is not a demonstration,” stated HelmUK, a consortium of partners representing the Department of Transport, which includes DAF, Ricardo, DHL and other relevant stakeholders in the testing and research space.

Two years on, and plans are finally falling into place; the first real-world trial is scheduled to kick off this summer. Three DAF trucks will be retrofitted with the necessary hardware and software that allows the vehicles to travel in close proximity, primarily under computer control. The