A platoon of autonomous trucks will soon arrive at Singapore’s shipping ports, addressing labor shortages in the trucking industry. In order to develop these complex systems, the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) and PSA Corporation have teamed up with two automotive companies, Scania and Toyota.
The system will involve one human-driven truck leading a pack of autonomous vehicles carrying containers between shipping ports. The lead vehicle will communicate to its autonomous followers through a wireless network, illustrated in the diagram below. Additionally, the self-driving trucks will be equipped with anti-collision, vehicle detection, and lateral control capabilities.
“We face a shortage of truck drivers. In this regard, truck platooning technology presents us with an opportunity to boost productivity in both the port sector and the trucking industry. It will also open up opportunities for truck drivers to take on higher-skilled roles as fleet operators and managers,” says Mr. Pang Kin Keong, Chairman of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport in Singapore and Permanent Secretary for Transport.
The trials will span about three years, from January 2017 to December 2019. Phase one of the project will consist of planning, testing, and refining truck platooning technologies at the respective research centers of Scania and Toyota, located in Sweden and Japan. Depending on the trial results from the first phase, just one company will be selected for phase two, which will consist of local trials in Singapore.
