Singapore to trial truck platooning for port use

How truck platooning works.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) of Singapore and PSA Corporation have partnered with automotive companies Scania and Toyota Tsusho to design, develop and testbed an autonomous truck platooning system for use on Singapore's public roads. The move furthers plans to introduce autonomous freight transport for more efficient freight movement in Singapore, and follows a memorandum of understanding (MoU) inked between MOT and PSA in October 2015 to collaborate and co-fund truck platooning projects.

Truck platooning involves a human-driven truck leading a convoy of driverless trucks. In the Singapore trials, the trucks will transport containers from one port terminal to another. Besides increasing the competitiveness of Singapore's port, truck platooning will also alleviate manpower shortages and allow more freight movements to be conducted at night to ease traffic congestion.

Said Pang Kin Keong, Permanent Secretary for Transport and Chairman of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport in Singapore (CARTS), “Trucking as we know it today is a highly labour-intensive industry. We face a shortage of truck drivers. In this regard, truck platooning technology presents us with an opportunity to boost productivity in both the port sector and the trucking industry. It will also open up opportunities for truck drivers to take on higher-skilled roles as fleet operators and managers.”

Ong Kim Pong, Regional CEO Southeast Asia, PSA International added, “As PSA prepares for our future terminals at Tuas, it is timely that we move on to the next steps in developing autonomous truck platooning technology. I am excited by the progress being made, as it underlines our joint commitment to being future-ready, while also helping us continue to serve our customers better through fast and efficient inter-terminal container movement.”

Scania and Toyota were shortlisted based on the quality of their proposals and strong track records in both truck manufacturing and the development of self-driving technology. Both companies will be working to develop technologies to enable heavy vehicles to move in a leader-follower formation, as well as to fully automate the processes for the precise docking and undocking of cargo.

The truck platooning trials will take place in two phases from January 2017 to December 2019. The first phase, lasting about a year, will focus on designing, testing and refining the truck platooning technology to adapt to local conditions. The trials will be conducted by Scania and Toyota in their respective research centres in Sweden and Japan, to leverage their existing development work. Depending on the outcomes of the phase one trials, MOT and PSA Corporation will then select one of the companies for phase two, which will consist of local trial s and some development of the technology in Singapore.

A 10 km long test route along West Coast Highway has been designated for the phase two trials, which will initially involve inter-terminal haulage between Brani Terminal and Pasir Panjang Terminals, and may eventually be scaled up for haulage within the port area, as well as between Pasir Panjang Terminals and Tuas Port.

Interested?

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about Singtel's 5G showcase, which included an exhibit on platooning