Transportation Labor Cost Reduction via Vehicle Platooning: Alternative Models and Solution Methods

The advent of automated and semiautomated driving technologies is prompting a reevaluation of the benefits of truck platooning. Whereas the effect of truck platooning on fuel costs is relatively well studied, automated driving enables further cost reductions in the form of labor savings that has, heretofore, been sparingly investigated. The degree to which such savings can be realized depends upon myriad factors. Foremost among them are driver payment policies and platoon formation procedures. Automated driving technology reduces the demands on a platoon’s follower vehicles, which, in turn, justifies modified driver compensation structures. However, reductions in labor expenditures are often limited by load characteristics that inhibit platoon formation. Therefore, this research sets forth a suite of related truck platooning problems that correspond to alternative assumptions about unloaded-truck compensation and shipment temporal flexibility. The computational complexities of these problem variants are examined, N P -hardness is proved for the suite, and other useful mathematical properties are derived. Extensive empirical testing using the U.S. highway system explores the effect of network topology, commerce flow, and platooning labor savings on each problem’s optimal solution, tractability, and other related metrics. Multiple heuristics are also designed and tested for larger-scale instances. In so doing, this research not only explores the effects of varied factors on platooning labor costs but it also provides practical means to identify high-quality, labor-cost-reducing routes.