Title: Comparison of platoon formations using departure time coordination heuristic

Authors: S. Sivanandham; M.S. Gajanand

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli, 620015, Tamil Nadu, India ' Faculty of Operations Management and Decision Sciences, Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli, 620024, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: A platoon is a set of virtually linked vehicles that drive closely behind one another. Truck platooning is a fast-emerging application of connected and autonomous vehicles to help tackle the traditional problems of the transportation industry and to reduce cost and minimise emissions. In this study, we present a departure time coordination-based heuristic solution for platoon formations. We also use a comprehensive modal emission model to understand the influence of velocity and size of the platoon on fuel savings potential. We compare the heuristic's performance on the different variants of the platooning problem in the literature with a central platoon coordinator and analyse the impact of the type of vehicle, speed, load and size of the platoon on the fuel savings potential of platooning. Numerical analysis shows a fuel savings potential of 6.4% to 8% for a platoon size of three with heavy duty vehicles at 80 kmph for different configurations.

Keywords: platooning; fuel savings; routing problem; departure time; platoon formation; freight transportation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2022.121487

International Journal of Operational Research, 2022 Vol.43 No.1/2, pp.96 - 118

Received: 31 Dec 2019
Accepted: 19 Jun 2020
Published online: 16 Mar 2022 *

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