MAN claims platooning trial a success

A seven-month trial which saw two MAN 26-tonne drawbar combinations complete some 35,000 km in platoon between DB Schenker depots in Nuremberg and Munich has been declared a success upon its conclusion.

The two trucks drove with a separation distance of 15 to 21 metres in the exercise, which received €1.86 million worth of funding from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital infrastructure.

The platooning system installed in the MAN trucks operated smoothly 98 per cent of the time. Active interventions by the driver were necessary only once every 2,000 kilometres, which was “much less than expected”. In addition, the pilot project demonstrated a three to four per cent reduction in fuel consumption.