Gregory Shaver, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Peloton Technology is taking a different approach with vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V), which makes use of a shortwave portion of the radio spectrum. Peloton plans to introduce this V2V technology in commercial fleets next year.

While autonomous vehicles can drive themselves without any input from their surroundings, V2V connects vehicles to their surroundings and to one another to optimize the functioning of the vehicular ecosystem as a whole. By maintaining pre-programmed gaps between commercial trucks, carbon emissions are reduced, and a 7 percent fuel economy is achieved.

Purdue researchers, including Gregory Shaver, professor of Mechanical Engineering, believe they can do better. With a three-year, $5 million grant from the United States Department of Energy (DoE), the Purdue team projects that it can help Peloton increase the average to 20 percent. This is estimated to be worth up to $20 billion a year to the trucking industry.

Shaver and his team are targeting these fuel efficiency improvements through the DoE’s NEXTCAR (Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles) project. Along with Peloton, they are partnering with Peterbilt, Cummins, and ZF on the project.

Source: New York Times