Demonstration of Automated Heavy-Duty Vehicles (2006)

At the entrance to the dedicated lane, the driver would switch the truck to automated operation, join behind another truck and operate automatically until he reached his destination.Over the longer term, with further advancements: The entry maneuvers could be automated with the addition of more sophisticated vehicleroadside communication Higher-level management functions could be implemented to serve a network of connected dedicated truck lanes.These could indeed become the precursors to an automated highway network. Overview of ReportThis report provides documentation of the development of the experimental buses and trucks and their testing, to show what performance can be achieved with use of the automation technologies.Section 2 describes the host vehicle platforms that were chosen for automation, both buses and trucks.Section 3 then describes the hardware and software modifications that were made to the production vehicles in order to give them automated driving capabilities, while Section 4 reports on the performance that was achieved by the automation systems, with experimental data derived from testing of the vehicles.Section 5 provides a brief set of conclusions regarding what was learned from the testing and from the reactions of visitors who participated in some of the testing. 2.1Chapter 2. Host Vehicle Platforms Transit BusesThe transit buses were chosen to represent two significantly different vehicle types in order to demonstrate that the automation technology could work effectively across a representative sample of heavy-duty buses in regular service in the U.S. In particular, two of the buses were 12 m (40 ft.) single-unit buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) in spark-ignition engines, since this type of propulsion system has become increasingly popular among U.S. transit agencies in order to reduce bus emissions of pollutants and noise.The third bus is an 18 m (60 ft.) articulated bus powered by a diesel engine, as used in many of the heaviest-duty transit services in the U.S. All three buses were acquired from New Flyer through the cooperation of San Diego Transit, who added them to a pre-existing order that they had already placed with New Flyer.Since that order was already in the production queue, it saved approximately one year of delay for delivery, which would have occurred if we had placed a completely new order for the demonstration buses.It was important to show that buses with significantly different engines and performance characteristics could be closely-coupled within an automated platoon for the demonstration, in order to verify the flexibility of the longitudinal control systems that were being demonstrated.Similarly, the lateral dynamics of single-unit and articulated buses differ significantly from each other, yet the same lateral control system was demonstrated to work effectively on both types of buses.Although provided by the same manufacturer, New Flyer, the 12 m (40 ft.) and 18 m (60 ft.) buses had different components.The 18 m (60 ft.) articulated bus is powered by a diesel engine, provided by Detroit Diesel, and both the 12 m (40 ft.) single-unit buses are powered by a CNG spark-ignition engine, provided by Cummins.Other relevant specifications are in Table 2.1.1 below: Table 2.1.1.New Flyer Bus Specifications.Engine and Transmission Details for both 18 m and 12 m Buses.18 m (60 ft.) Articulated 12 m (40 ft.) Single-Unit Engine Mfr.Detroit