---

DaimlerChrysler: Truck Convoys - An Unlikely Solution To Traffic Jams, Pollution

14 June 1999

DaimlerChrysler: Truck Convoys - An Unlikely Solution To Traffic Jams, Pollution

    'Electronic Draw-Bar' Holds the Key to the Future for Freight Traffic

     Technological Advances Mean Vehicles Can Be Linked Non-Mechanically

    STUTTGART, Germany, June 14 -- Technology developed by
DaimlerChrysler may create an unlikely scenario for the future:
Increased truck traffic that brings with it reduced air pollution, lower fuel
consumption and more room on the road for other drivers.
    DaimlerChrysler's "Electronic Draw-Bar," a driver-assistance system that
allows trucks to travel in convoys, is evidence of how electronics are
altering vehicle flow-control in Europe and North America.
    The device was put on public display on a stretch of the Lake Constance
Freeway near Constance, Germany, about 110 miles south of Stuttgart on the
Swiss border.
    "The technological options now available from the application of
electronics to the automobile and to traffic flow control are opening up the
way for a wealth of completely novel systems over the next 10 to 15 years,"
said Hans-Georg Metzler, Head of the Machine Understanding and Autonomous
Systems Laboratories at DaimlerChrysler's Research and Development Division.
"In the year 2015, road users will scarcely be able to believe how low-tech
systems like traffic lights were once the primary means of controlling
traffic."
    Heavy truck traffic is a growing concern throughout Europe.  Experts
believe the volume of truck traffic will double over the next 15 years in
European Union member-states.  Over the last 20 years, almost 90 percent of
the increase in freight traffic was carried by road.  Today, approximately
70 percent of all freight traffic is transported by road.
    This increase in traffic brings with it air pollution, increased traffic
congestion, longer travel times, rising costs and reduced truck availability.
    It was against this background that DaimlerChrysler decided to research
innovative forms of traffic flow.
    The Electronic Draw-Bar actively controls the forward, backward and
lateral movement of the truck.  Under this system, two trucks are coupled
solely by electronics.  The lead vehicle is steered in the conventional way,
while the second vehicle follows the track of the front truck without any
mechanical links.
    The system reduces fuel consumption and air pollution because the combined
aerodynamic profile of two trucks moving so closely together means the second
vehicle consumes about 15 percent less fuel than in normal operations.  And
because the space between trucks is less than that of those driving
independently of each other, they occupy less space on the freeway and provide
more room for other drivers.
    The Electronic Draw-Bar also relieves the driver in the second truck of
the monotony of highway driving.
    Dr. Hartmut Marwitz, Head of European Truck Development for
DaimlerChrysler, called on government agencies to revise traffic regulations
to allow the use of technological innovations such as the Electronic Draw-Bar.
    "Unless transport policy and legislation are in line with advances in
technology, the Electronic Draw-Bar and other driver-assistance systems will
not be able to counteract the negative impact of freight traffic and secure
Europe-wide the economic growth which depends on it," Marwitz said.
    DaimlerChrysler began developing driver-assistance systems for freight
vehicles in 1996.  Working with potential users of the system -- professional
truck drivers, road operators and freight firms -- as well as independent
research institutes and traffic engineers, the research venture became known
as Promote Chauffeur.  The project aims to optimize freight traffic on
European roads by providing intelligent support for truck drivers, increasing
transportation safety, reducing environmental pollution and using the existing
freeways more effectively.