The Adoption of Truck Platooning in the United States

The changing state of U.S. and global economies have significantly affected effective operations of most businesses around the world. As such, many companies are continually evaluating appropriate approaches that can help them reduce the overall cost of production. Currently, many enterprises have started adopting modern trends particularly in the transport sector as a method of increasing their efficiency and decreasing expenses. One of the most significant emerging trends in transport used by companies in the United States is the truck platooning technique.

 Truck platooning involves the connecting more than one truck in a single group with the aid of modern connectivity technologies such as support systems, artificial intelligence, lane keep assists, and autonomous driving. The system is designed in a way that all other tracks in the platoon adapt and react to any change in movement of the leading truck (Traffic Technology today, 2018). Some of the benefits of this emerging trend include improving fuel efficiency, reducing the overall cost of transportation and limiting the emission of poisonous gases like carbon dioxide (Department of Energy, 2018). Other significant advantages of this method entail reducing traffic congestion, road accidents, and increasing efficiency among U.S based and global institutions.

Figure 1: Platooning in europe

Source: (Traffic Technology today, 2018)

 Equally, platooning is expected to improve the logistics process through optimizing labor, timely delivery of goods and ensuring proper utilization of resources to cut overall expenses. According to Holcomb et al., (2014) successful reduction of costs translates to increased profitability and competitiveness of the firm. The adoption of this technique is however enhanced by the increasing need by modern enterprises to meet customer requirements by offering goods at the right cost, place and time thus creating value for the organization. Some of the global institutions that have already adopted the use and development of this transportation method include peloton technology, Volvo group, Daimler AG and Scania.  

References

Department of Energy. (2018). Platooning Trucks to Cut Cost and Improve Efficiency. Retrieved November 19, 2018, from https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/platooning-trucks-cut-cost-and-improve-efficiency

Holcomb, M. C., Liao-Troth, S., & Manrodt, K. B. (2014). A shift in fundamentals: the changing direction in logistics and transportation management. Transportation Journal, 53(4), 516-533.

Traffic Technology today. (2018). Traffic Technology Today. Retrieved November 19, 2018, from http://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/news.php?NewsID=78303