Top 3 Product Highlights of 2015

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TORONTO, ON — Trucking has never, ever bored me, least of all its various technologies. Through nearly four decades of covering it as a journalist — writing this newsletter for a dozen — I’ve been endlessly fascinated, happily learning all the time.

That said, the shine was gradually wearing off after penning my 463rd brake story, metaphorically speaking, until the summer of 2014. When I went to Germany to attend the launch of the Mercedes Actros autonomous truck — known as Future Truck 2025 — the journalistic juices began flowing again. And this past year they became a torrent.

We’ve been building up to an explosion of mighty interesting technology and limitless possibilities, and I think it happened in 2015.

The thing is, there’s much more to come.

The autonomous Freightliner, the so-called Inspiration truck, was obviously the year’s biggest news. Launched by way of a spectacular presentation at the Hoover Dam in Nevada, in a sense the real surprise was that the state licensed it for use on public roads.

Who knew that Nevada would — or could — lead the way?

But its urbane and articulate Governor, Brian Sandoval, is clearly committed to pushing this technology forward, and he and his state have helped accomplish what once seemed almost certain to be a European breakthrough.

In fact it’s the first self-driving vehicle of any kind, with four wheels or 18, to gain a license anywhere in the world. Make that two, because Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) built two of them, and both are licensed in Nevada.

Equipped with a system called Highway Pilot, using nearly the same sensors and computer hardware used on the German Actros, the newest Freightliner is based on a series-production Cascadia Evolution.

The Highway Pilot links together a very sophisticated set of camera technology and radar systems with lane stability, collision avoidance, speed control, braking, steering, and other monitoring systems. This combination creates an autonomous vehicle operating system that can perform safely under a range of highway driving conditions. The long-range radar sees 820 ft ahead while a second takes a wide-angle view and sees 230 ft. ahead. Cameras are good for 328 ft.

One oddity is the existence of more-or-less ordinary mirrors, which harm aerodynamic efficiency more than you might think, despite the existence of much more useful rear-facing cameras with very large displays on the two A pillars in the Inspiration cab. The law presently demands mirrors, so mirrors you shall have for the time being, along with a 1.5% fuel economy penalty.

Some of the core autonomous systems in the Inspiration concept vehicle, and it’s still just that, have already been successfully deployed in the current Freightliner Cascadia Evolution.

Nobody is saying our roads will be full of autonomous trucks, or even cars, next week or next month or next year. DTNA isn’t naming a date for when we’ll be sharing highways with such trucks, and the same hurdles exist here as in Europe, but I’ll bet it’s no worse than 2025.

That remains to be seen, but there doesn’t seem to be any impediment in terms of the technology. We’re pretty much there.

The Inspiration promises advancements that reduce accidents, improve fuel consumption, cut highway congestion, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

DTNA figures autonomous driving can reduce fuel consumption by up to 5%. That notion is supported by a recent Frost & Sullivan study that said a heavy-duty, long-haul, autonomous truck would save an average of 7% in fuel consumption, while regional-haul trucks would save 4%. That study also found that such trucks would reduce maintenance costs due to reduced component strain, the result of more uniform traffic flow.

Safety? Yes, indeed, though people will need some convincing. The thing is, most collisions are the result of human error by the person at the truck’s steering wheel or more likely by a four-wheeler’s stupidity. A truck laden with radar and sensors and cameras and all manner of collision-avoidance systems, most of which we already use, will react to that stupidity a zillion times faster than any human and in all likelihood save the truck driver’s bacon.

We see it all the time when ABS slows us down in a straight line, when stability control allows us to veer around trouble without going agricultural. Yes, sensors will sometimes fail, but the odds are on the side of an improved safety record.

One of the Inspiration’s major advantages, according to DTNA chief engineer Al Pearson, is that it makes the driver’s life significantly easier and takes much of the stress out of long-distance highway driving. He said driver fatigue is reduced by as much as 25% when the truck is running in autonomous mode.

But It Ain’t Driverless

The Inspiration is absolutely not a driverless truck. The driver cannot leave his seat and can only give control to the machine when conditions are right.

The truck operates on highways at what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines as Level 3 of autonomous vehicle (AV) capabilities, enabling the driver to cede full control of all safety-critical functions under certain traffic or environmental conditions. The autonomous system is responsible for maintaining legal speed, staying in the selected lane, keeping a safe braking distance from other vehicles, and slowing or stopping the vehicle based on traffic and road conditions. The vehicle monitors changes in conditions that require transition back to driver control when necessary in highway settings. The driver is in control of the vehicle when passing other vehicles, exiting the highway, on local roads, and in docking.

Level 0 means no automation of any sort, while Level 1 covers function-specific things like ABS. Level 2 combines automated capabilities as in adaptive cruise control. Level 4 is complete automation, with or without a driver present, and DTNA said firmly that it has no wish to go there.

In practice, once on a highway at speed (up to 60 mph) the Inspiration truck’s AV system tells the driver visually when it’s safe to go autonomous. He can then choose to switch it on and take his hands off the wheel — and his eyes off the road. It operates more or less like ordinary cruise control in the sense that a touch of the steering wheel or throttle will turn the system off and give the driver control again. He can also touch a button on the steering wheel to revert to manual control. If the system sees a situation that demands driver intervention it will yell and scream until he does so. If he ignores it, the truck will break torque, slow down, and stop if necessary.

Call it cruise control plus. Plus a lot, of course.

In both the Inspiration and the German Future Truck, passing another vehicle is a manual operation. They’ll follow at a safe distance endlessly but if the driver wants to pass he’ll have to take charge.

The Inspiration truck is legal only on Nevada freeways and interstate highways, not lesser roads. Its licence does not extend to driving in rain or snow because the truck hasn’t been tested on such roads yet. A little oddly, there must be two qualified drivers in the cab. Qualified, that is, to drive an AV.

And The SuperTruck…

Back in March we saw the Freightliner SuperTruck, itself a spectacular piece of work. The engineers were given a few bucks to spend and they made the most of it, their spiffy Freightliner getting a reported 12.2 mpg. It was introduced to the world at the Mid America Trucking Show in Louisville.

The DTNA SuperTruck program, funded half by the U.S. Department of Energy and half by the company itself — US$40 million from each side — also achieved a 115% freight-efficiency improvement, surpassing the DOE program’s goal of a 50% gain. It’s said to be the best result of all the OEMs that ran SuperTruck projects.

To measure freight efficiency, DTNA ran vehicle testing on highway routes in Oregon and Texas, one city route in Portland, Ore., and anti-idle testing in both a cold chamber and hot chamber. These tests resulted in that combined 115% freight efficiency improvement over a 2009 baseline truck.

Testing was also conducted at the DTNA Detroit engineering facility where the SuperTruck’s Detroit DD15 diesel achieved a remarkable 50.2% engine thermal efficiency, we’re told. The DOE target was actually 50%.

A typical gasoline car engine, by comparison, manages 25% efficiency on a good day. Toyota recently talked about its breakthrough gasoline engine that hit 38% efficiency. The ordinary diesel we know and love typically manages something in the 40% range.

What’s being measured there is pretty simple, namely the percentage of the energy fed into the engine that manages to beat off friction and other such losses and come out the other end as motive power.

The final SuperTruck demonstrator ran a five-day, 312-mile round trip on Texas Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Dallas, at a weight of 65,000 lb GVWR and a speed of 65 mph, where DTNA says it achieved an average result of 12.2 mpg.

So How’d They Do It?

Like the three other OEMs that ran SuperTruck programs, DTNA started with commercially viable technologies already developed and introduced in production vehicles, including 6×2 optimization, the aerodynamic components found on the Freightliner Cascadia Evolution, and the integrated Detroit powertrain.

“By incorporating a mix of available technologies with future innovations, we were able to use the SuperTruck program to take the first steps in seeing what may be technically possible and commercially viable,” said Derek Rotz, the project’s ‘principal investigator’. “We still have a long road ahead to determine ultimately what will be successful and what will achieve the greatest efficiencies.”

One key initiative was exploring how the tractor and trailer should be designed and optimized as a single system, not separate units, something I’ve wanted to see for ages. DTNA engineers also explored possible efficiency gains with tire manufacturers, using wide-base, low-rolling-resistance single tires. They also looked at highly engineered aerodynamic surfaces on the trailer.

The future technologies to be seen on the Freightliner SuperTruck represent a big part of that 12.2 mpg figure, of course. But maybe not as much as you might guess.

Electrified auxiliaries, controlled power steering and air systems, active aerodynamics, a long-haul hybrid system, waste-heat recovery, and trailer solar panels were some of the advanced items assessed. Waste-heat recovery was among those actually used in the SuperTruck.

“Part of our process included taking a deep dive into different systems to analyze not only what might be possible, but obstacles as well,” explained Rotz.

The SuperTruck team discovered that some of these components, due to regulatory or economic barriers, may not be commercially viable in the near future, said DTNA.

The company’s president and CEO Martin Daum noted that these high-risk/high-reward technology explorations must consider the customer’s payback experience. The engineers looked at carbon-fiber frame rails, for example. Daum said they were light enough that he could carry them on his back, but just weren’t practical.

Interestingly, he said that these experimental technologies only represented about 25% of the fuel-economy gains achieved by the SuperTruck. Most of the improvements — 60% worth — came from current and near-future tools like powertrain integration. The remaining 15% of that 12.2  mpg achievement rests in the purity of test conditions as opposed to what goes on in the real world, Daum said.

It’s going to be fun watching what happens in that 25% area in the next few years.

Let’s Not Forget Peterbilt and Walmart

Peterbilt and Walmart also showed off some great engineering and design work this past March.

A futuristically styled tractor powered by a microturbine-electric hybrid drive system and a trailer made of lightweight carbon fiber comprise a concept rig shown off by Walmart Stores at a sustainability conference.

It demonstrated materials and electro-mechanical systems that could help the giant retailer get closer to its goal of reducing by half its energy use by 2015, executives said. They set that goal in 2005 and are now 84.2% there through greater efficiencies in transport procedures and energy efficiencies in its stores and other facilities.

The cab tilts, COE-style, to reveal the turbine, generator, battery pack, and electric motor that powers the  tandem-rear axles. A sliding door allows access to the interior.

The truck’s shape represents a 20% reduction in aerodynamic drag over Walmart’s current Peterbilt Model 386. By placing the cab over the engine, the truck’s wheelbase is greatly shortened, resulting in reduced weight and better maneuverability. Walmart relied on Roush Engineering to carry out the vehicle’s construction.

The driver sits in the center of the streamlined cabin with electronic-readout instrument panels on either side of the steering wheel, which sports a red Peterbilt oval, and sleeping accommodations are at the rear.

The truck features a microturbine ‘Range Extender’ generator developed by Capstone Turbine. The company also engineered the truck’s integrated hybrid drivetrain solution. The use of a hybrid powertrain allows the turbine to remain at optimum rpm while the electric motor/energy storage handles acceleration and deceleration. A longer-range version of this powertrain would feature a larger turbine and smaller energy storage system.

Turbines by their nature are fuel-neutral — using gas, diesel, DME, you name it — and produce very low emissions without the need for aftertreatment. They’re also appealing because of their few moving parts, low maintenance requirements, and lighter weight.

Component electrification is a key here. With automobiles moving to electrified accessories such as power steering and air conditioning, says Walmart, this truck scales those systems up for use on a larger vehicle. These electrified components are used only when needed and at peak efficiency.

When keyed on, the truck automatically detects the state of charge of the batteries and starts charging them, if needed, using the turbine engine. Charge mode can be manually selected if an operator wishes to “top off” the batteries prior to shutting down.

For use in urban areas, the truck will run on electric power alone until the battery state of charge hits 50%. At that time the turbine will automatically start and begin charging the batteries. For maximum range, this mode runs the turbine continuously, only shutting down if the batteries run out.

The Great Dane trailer has a body built almost exclusively of carbon fiber, including one-piece panels for the roof and sidewalls, saving nearly 4000 lb when compared to traditional designs. Its convex nose also enhances aerodynamics while maintaining storage space inside. Other special features include special low-amperage LED lighting strips, composite skirts, aerodynamic disc wheel coverings, a Posi-lift suspension, and a one-piece, fiberglass-reinforced floor panel with a 16,000-lb forklift rating.

The company calls the rig the Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience, or WAVE. Executives don’t say if they’ll actually purchase vehicles like it, but surely it points the way.

So those three trucks are my highlights of 2015. Next time out — January 13th — I’ll run through my top 10 products of the year. More ordinary products, that is.

From The Lockwood Report. To read previous editions, click here.

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Rolf Lockwood is editor emeritus of Today's Trucking and a regular contributor to Trucknews.com.


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