Britain Joins List of Countries Testing Autonomous Trucks<br />LONDON — A wide array of companies are competing to dominate the future of autonomous cars, from Silicon Valley giants like Apple<br />and Google, to traditional carmakers like BMW and Ford.<br />The first truck in the platoon, however, will control the acceleration<br />and braking of all three, using technology to optimize the latter trucks’ trailing distance to reduce drag, helping cut fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.<br />Scania, a unit of the German carmaker Volkswagen, said in January it would test platooning technology in Singapore, while the Netherlands<br />has promoted research into it as well, by running a challenge where driverless trucks from across Europe traversed the continent.<br />The 8.1 million pound, or $10.4 million, project will be carried out by a consortium of companies, including<br />Transport Research Laboratory, a British research firm, and DHL, the delivery and logistics company<br />Britain on Friday joined a growing list of countries<br />and companies financing research into automating haulage, announcing a trial of self-driving trucks that will see real-world tests next year.
