Peloton Announces U.S. Department of Energy-funded Team to Cut Heavy Truck Fuel Use by 20 Percent with Smart Powertrains and Platooning
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Industry partners on Purdue-led team include Peloton, Cummins,
Peterbilt and ZF TRW
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Team will boost truck platooning fuel savings across two trucks to 20
percent with connected powertrains
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Project to use higher-automation platooning with automated throttle,
brake and steering
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Three-year $5 million ARPA-E grant is tied as the largest award under
the DOE program
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Suite of technologies could save 8 billion gallons of diesel fuel
annually in the US alone
Peloton Technology, a connected and automated vehicle technology company
dedicated to improving the safety and efficiency of freight
transportation, today announced its participation in the Next-Generation
Energy Technologies for Connected and Autonomous On-Road Vehicles
(NEXTCAR) program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The project will apply
next-generation truck platooning technology and concepts for smart,
cloud-connected powertrains to achieve 20 percent fuel savings for
tractor-trailers.
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Led by Purdue University, Peloton’s NEXTCAR project team also includes
Cummins, Peterbilt Motors Company, ZF TRW, the University of Arizona and
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Contributions from
partners include Peloton’s current platooning system and
higher-automation platooning technology under development, advanced
powertrain solutions from Cummins, steering controls from ZF TRW and
state-of-the-art trucks from Peterbilt.
“As we join in launching this national project, we are excited about the
team’s complementary strengths in commercial powertrain development,
connected vehicle applications, vehicle automation and trucking
operations,” said Peloton CEO Josh Switkes. “Our first truck platooning
system is coming to market in 2017. This project will build upon our
existing system and is complementary to the higher-automation solutions
we are developing next. We appreciate the leadership shown by ARPA-E in
creating the NEXTCAR program and by Purdue in assembling our team.”
The partners will develop, integrate and demonstrate a set of
co-optimized powertrain and automated driving controls to improve the
fuel efficiency of tractor-trailers, which consumed over 40 billion
gallons of diesel fuel in 2015 according to the American Trucking
Associations.
“This cutting-edge project advances private-sector collaboration
underway with Peterbilt, Cummins, ZF TRW and others,” said Steve Boyd,
Peloton’s VP of external affairs. “We are energized to work with these
partners in developing and bringing to market the next stage of smart,
connected truck systems and higher-automation platooning,”
By combining novel algorithms, look-ahead data and vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) and vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) connectivity, the team aims to reduce
the fuel use of a baseline Class 8 Peterbilt 579 by 20 percent in
real-world driving conditions. That level of savings across the U.S.
tractor-trailer fleet would translate to upwards of 8 billion gallons in
diesel fuel and 80 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions conserved
annually.
The new controls require minimal hardware changes and can be programmed
into electronic control units (ECUs) that are already on the trucks.
This approach means that innovations that emerge from the project can be
commercialized at low cost.
For NEXTCAR, Peloton will address two key research objectives. The first
is to increase fuel savings from truck platooning at highway speeds from
a baseline average of 7 percent across two trucks
to 20 percent in combination with connected powertrains.
Peloton’s flagship platooning system, which will reach commercial
trucking fleets in 2017, creates a wireless link between the automated
throttle and brake control systems on multiple trucks to synchronize
their speeds and maintain a safe following distance even in the event of
a sudden stop. The 7 percent baseline fuel savings from the Peloton
system has been validated through independent SAE Type II fuel economy
testing conducted by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency
and NREL.
The significant gain in platooning efficiency over the three years of
the NEXTCAR project will be the sum of several technology advancements,
including the development of powertrain set points optimized for when
trucks are operating in platooning mode, and the integration of steering
control which will raise the system from a Level 1 to Level 2 automated
driving system under industry-standard definitions of SAE International.
“Our objective is to tap into fuel savings that can only be attained by
managing the powertrain precisely for the road ahead, and for the
specific configuration of the trucks,” said Michael Palmer, Peloton’s
director of research. “Cloud connectivity provides information about the
road ahead, and the trucks exchange data about their estimated mass and
powertrain capabilities. This helps us maintain smooth, efficient
platooning through grades and rolling hills.”
Peloton’s second NEXTCAR focus area will be to meet the connectivity
requirements of powertrain innovations including over-the-air engine
recalibrations and distributed computing between trucks and the cloud.
This work will build on Peloton’s experience in developing a cloud-based
Network Operations Center to manage vehicles equipped with automated
driving systems including its flagship truck platooning system, which
employs DSRC, cellular LTE and WiFi to connect vehicles to each other
and to the cloud.
“We are delighted to have Peloton on the team,” said Greg Shaver,
professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue and principal investigator
for the project team. “Peloton brings thought leadership and proven,
compelling results in Class 8 truck platooning and connectivity. I
cannot imagine pursuing this ambitious project without Peloton’s
significant participation.”
Peloton and its NEXTCAR partners expect to launch the three-year project
in March 2017. The team will receive a total of $5 million from ARPA-E
and will provide additional cost share funding. The Purdue-team has been
offered the largest award (tied with Ohio State University) of 10 total
NEXTCAR Program projects.
A video showing the current Peloton truck platooning system is available
at https://vimeo.com/155164547.
About Peloton Technology, Inc.
Peloton is a connected and automated vehicle technology company
dedicated to improving the safety and efficiency of the $700 billion
U.S. trucking industry and other global automotive markets. Peloton
creates partnerships with customers to provide and manage innovative
tools for saving fuel, avoiding accidents, and improving operational
insight through the use of connectivity, automation and data analytics.
Peloton’s flagship platooning system links the active safety systems of
pairs of trucks, and connects them to a cloud-based Network Operations
Center that limits platooning to appropriate roads and conditions while
provides safety-critical services to trucks and drivers both in and out
of platoon. Based in Silicon Valley, Peloton is supported by investors
including Volvo Group, DENSO International America, UPS, Nokia Growth
Partners, Intel Capital, Magna, Lockheed Martin, Castrol InnoVentures,
Lytx, Sand Hill Angels, Birchmere Ventures and Band of Angels. For more
information, please visit www.peloton-tech.com
and follow us on Twitter @pelotontech.
About the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E NEXTCAR Program
For more information, please visit https://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/NEXTCAR_ProgramOverview.pdf.
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