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Recently, several media outlets reported that the Trump administration had decided to drop the proposed mandate on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications on all light vehicles because of security concerns. This caused the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue the following statement on 8 November 2017:
The NHTSA reports that it is still reviewing and considering more than 460 comments submitted and other relevant new information to inform its next steps on the proposal. While the DOT withdrew or revised 13 rules this year, V2V was not one of them, and it remains on the DOT’s significant rulemaking report.
Daimler Trucks North America is testing platooning operations on public roads in the United States. With this initiative, the company is reacting to increasing customer interest in solutions based on automated and connected driving in commercial transportation.
In truck platooning, connectivity and automated driving improve safety within vehicle convoys, support drivers, and enhance efficiency through closer distances between the connected trucks. As a first step, two Freightliner New Cascadia vehicles were connected (see figure below) and combined with automated driving. Wi-Fi-based V2V communication interacted with adaptive cruise control, lane-departure assist, and active brake assists.
This technology offers fuel savings to the customer when two or more Freightliner trucks closely follow each other, lowering aerodynamic drag and adding safety. This is possible because V2V reaction times have dropped to about 0.2–0.3 s—while humans normally can respond no faster than 1 s. Human error causes 94% of vehicle crashes, according to the NHTSA.
When it comes to platooning, the US trucking industry is talking not only about technology but also, as in Europe, about regulatory issues. Joint tests with fleet customers under real-life conditions will begin this year.
Full article: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, Volume 13, Number 1, March 2018 | 
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