California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology

Representatives of the trucking industry have been surveyed to try to identify their needs and concerns related to truck platooning systems. These surveys revealed the need to provide clearer and more comprehensive descriptions of the truck platooning concepts to ensure that the respondents understand what it is and how it works. The fleet managers tended to be more receptive to truck platooning than the drivers, and even those respondents who had some prior experience driving trucks with adaptive cruise control (ACC) and forward collision warning systems were no more receptive to truck platooning than those who lacked such experience. One group of respondents received a more complete description of the truck platoon concept and their responses were significantly more positive regarding driver acceptance of the system.