Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) is a

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

-funded project to investigate and trial technologies and strategies for the safe platooning of road vehicles, a transportation concept in which several vehicles are electronically linked together in a "

road train A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Early ...

", with only the lead driver in active control. The three-year project was launched in 2009. The research and development was carried out by several European auto manufactures with Volvo at the lead. A first practical test successfully took place in December 2010. In September Volvo announced that the SARTRE research project had come to a close, and that the company was ready to look into putting its finished product on the road.

Project aims

The aim of the project is to develop prototype systems to aid the development of platooning for eventual use on unmodified public motorways, interacting with non-platooned traffic. The project was formally launched in September 2009, with an intended duration of three years. The EU hopes the use of platooning on European roads would cut fuel consumption, journey times, and congestion.

Proposed system

The SARTRE platooning system envisages a platoon of up to eight vehicles linked electronically, with the lead vehicle controlled by a professional driver, controlling in turn those following, as slave vehicles. Aimed at commuters in cars, but also possibly commercial vehicles and buses, drivers would be able to join and leave the platoon at will. To keep costs down, the technology for the system is to be achieved through off the shelf components, and specifically without requiring costly changes to highway infrastructure.

Funding and participants

The SARTRE project is run as a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources ...

, funded by the

under their

Seventh Framework Programme The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

. The consortium is led by the British company Ricardo UK. Other participating organisations are: * Applus IDIADA (Spain) * Institut für Kraftfahrwesen Aachen (IKA) (Germany) * Robotiker-Tecnalia (Spain) *

SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden The SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden ( sv, SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut), is a joint stock company, fully owned by the Swedish government. It was formerly known as the National Swedish Authority for Testing, Inspection and Metro ...

Volvo Car Corporation Volvo Cars ( sv, Volvo personvagnar, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company's ...

(Sweden) * Volvo Technology (Sweden)

Trials

Test track trials of SARTRE platooning took place at the

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Proving Ground near

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden and in a public road in Spain. In January 2011 the first successful trial took place at Volvo's test track in Sweden, in which a single car followed behind a rigid truck. With control being taken by the truck, the driver of the slaved car was able to take his hands off the

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...

, read a newspaper, and sip coffee. In January 2012 SARTRE carried out a second demonstration in a public road in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain, this time with a multiple vehicle platoon, a lead truck followed by three cars driven entirely autonomously at speeds of up to with a gap between the vehicles of no more than .

was the only participating car manufacturer.

References

Publications

* * * *

External links

SARTRE Project
;Videos
2011 SARTRE Project demo, Gothenburg, Sweden
(a lead truck with a single following car)
2012 SARTRE Project demo, Barcelona, Spain
(a lead truck followed by three cars driven entirely autonomously) {{Mobile robots Automotive technologies Emerging technologies Road transport in Europe Transport and the European Union