Truck platooning reshapes greenhouse gas emissions of the integrated vehicle-road infrastructure system
Journal article, 2023

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has turned into a pillar of climate change mitigation. Truck platooning is proposed as a strategy to lower emissions from vehicles on roads. However, the potential interactive impacts of this technology on road infrastructure emissions remain unclear. Here, we evaluate the decarbonization effects of truck platooning on the integrated vehicle-road system at a large-scale road network level, spanning 1457 road sections across North America. We show that truck platooning decreases emissions induced by truck operations, but it degrades faster the durability of road infrastructure and leads to a 27.9% rise in road emissions due to more frequent maintenance work. Overall, truck platooning results in a 5.1% emission reduction of the integrated vehicle-road system. In contrast to the benefits of emission reduction, truck platooning leads to additional financial burdens on car users and transportation agencies, calling for the consideration of tradeoffs between emissions and costs and between agencies and users. Our research provides insights into the potential applications of truck platooning to mitigate climate change.

Author

Huailei Cheng

Tongji University

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Yuhong Wang

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Dan Chong

Shanghai University

Chao Xia

Tongji University

Lijun Sun

Tongji University

Jenny Liu

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Kun Gao

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Geology and Geotechnics

Ruikang Yang

Tongji University

Tian Jin

Tongji University

Nature Communications

2041-1723 (ISSN) 20411723 (eISSN)

Vol. 14 1 4495

Subject Categories

Transport Systems and Logistics

Computer Systems

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-40116-0

PubMed

37582916

More information

Latest update

8/29/2023