Robomobili: Platooning and Bavarian sausages
Undoubtedly, you heard about the "Bavarian sausages."
So - you can safely forget about them. Well, there is no such thing in real life of the Free State of Bavaria ( this is exactly what this southern land is officially called ).
What to eat is the numerous types of sausages / sausages / hams. And some of them are roasting, others are steaming, others are boiling - and something is even used in the form of raw pork minced, mixed with finely chopped onions and black pepper, and then spread on the bread product. In general, everyone will find that he is pleased - and no one will leave offended, especially after the liter mug of the “basement” Kellerbier.
“But what have robobomies to do with it ?!” an impatient reader will ask. And your question will lead us straight to the equator of white sausages.
Against the background of boiling news from the world of pop technology, a modest heavy-load revolution on the Munich-Nuremberg highway of the A9 remains unnoticed. It was here that on June 25 of this year, the logistics concern DB Schenker launched in day-to-day logistic transportation the first practical application in the world for systems that we call in this line “caravan robotic trains”.
And all this is carried out in a joint project of the concern DB Schenker, the automaker MAN and the Fresenius Institute.
This is all called capacious word "Platooning" - that the Russian language, using the dictionary of traffic rules, most likely translated as "Coloning." And if to take into account the polysemy of this term in the German language, then there are such capacious interpretations as “Platooning”, “Caravaning” and even “Subdivisioning” here in the queue.
Of course, we are talking about the trip in columns.
Here are just the trucks traveling behind the head vehicle, following it at a distance of 12-15 meters, using aerodynamic (wind) shadow - which leads to savings of up to three liters of diesel fuel per 100 km of track, according to a statement from a logistics company.
And this corresponds to a savings of at least 3–3.5 euros per 100 km, when converted to the cash equivalent, taking into account the current prices for diesel fuel (approximately 1.25 euros per liter at public filling stations) and making some discounts on bulk purchases by logistics companies .Moreover, this distance is maintained not by man, but by autonomous control systems — which not only track the vehicle’s position using radars, lidars and video cameras, but also communicate with the lead vehicle via WLAN, exchanging information about the state of the platoning system on braking and on acceleration of braking, and also GPS coordinates.
Illustration from the official page of the DB Schenker concern.
At the moment, there are drivers in the cab of driven cars - having the right to take control at any time.
Until the beginning of August, the columns moved without load, with the beginning of August further testing is planned with loaded cars. From the autumn it is planned to use columns for logistic trips at least three times a day on the Munich-Nuremberg-Munich route between the logistics centers of DB Schenker. As examples of cargo, parts for the engineering industry are called, as well as drinks and paper industry cargo.
As another important point in the use of these systems, the company is called a fairly significant saving of space on highways - which, given even the current load on the aforementioned route, represents a considerable gain for the entire automotive community. And if we take into account the current trends in the growth of the load on the motorways, then the “space” advantage will only grow every year.
"Well, but what is here this very Weißwurstäquator ?!" - will ask all the same unsatisfied information
And this is important.
What you can see around here .