SE1550387A1

SE1550387A1 - System and method for coordination of platoon formation

Info

Publication number: SE1550387A1
Application number: SE1550387A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Saibel Sergej
Original assignee: Scania Cv Ab
Priority date: 2015-03-31
Filing date: 2015-03-31
Publication date: 2016-10-01
Also published as: DE102016003432A1; SE541205C2

Abstract

A system and a method for coordination of platoon formation. The method comprises determining possible platooning companions to a vehicle (1) based on a result of an evaluation of transport assignment characteristics for at least one other vehicle (2), and determining route data for at least one route of the vehicle (1) for accomplishing an assignment of the vehicle (1), wherein the route data includes data of the road and time along the route. The method further comprises determining a plurality of transport plans for the vehicle (1) based on matching of route data for the at least one route of the vehicle (1) with route data of the possible platooning companions, wherein a transport plan includes route data and platooning instructions for the vehicle (1) along the at least one route. The method also comprises determining at least one platooning parameter for each transport plan that indicates a platooning performance of the transport plan, and determining a selected transport plan from the plurality of transport plans whose at least one platooning parameter fulfills a decision criterion.(Fig. 1)

Description

System and method for coordination of platoon formation Technical field The present disclosure relates to technology for cooperative driving, or platooning,and especially to a system and method for coordination of platoon formation. Thepresent disclosure further relates to a computer program and a computer program product.

BackgroundCooperative driving, or platooning, has started to come in question mainly for heavy vehicles. Cooperative driving means to drive in a convoy with smalldistances between the vehicles. Studies have shown that fuel consumption maybe reduced considerably by driving cooperatively with heavy vehicles because ofreduced air resistance. However, to organize vehicles into platoons is anextensive task not only in the meaning of finding the most suitable vehicle toplatoon with, but also to make platooning convenient for the drivers such that platooning is an alternative the drivers want to make. ln order to find platooning possibilities it is necessary to know routes, or at leastpart of routes, for vehicles including their time schedule. The routes may then bematched to find platooning possibilities, and drivers of vehicles with positiveplatooning possibilities may be encouraged to form platoons. The platooningpossibilities may however become disturbed because of traffic disturbances or other reasons.

US2014/0046585A1 relates to real time computation of vehicle service routes. Aroute scheduling system is described that may recalculate a scheduled routebased on input received after the formulation and/or dispatch of the initial route.However, time for recalculating a route may be limited and the calculations may be computationally demanding.

Summarylt is thus an object of the disclosure to alleviate at least some of the drawbacks with the prior art. lt is a further object of the disclosure to provide coordination ofcooperative driving that is simpler and/or faster than previous known methods forcoordination of cooperative driving. lt is a still further object of the disclosure toprovide coordination of cooperative driving to a lower cost than previous systemsand methods for coordination of cooperative driving. Any of these objects andothers is at least partly achieved by the system and the method according to theindependent claims, and by the embodiments according to the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect, the disclosure relates to a system for coordination ofplatoon formation. The system is configured to determine possible platooningcompanions to a vehicle based on a result of an evaluation of transportassignment characteristics for at least one other vehicle, and to determine routedata for at least one route of the vehicle for accomplishing an assignment of the vehicle, wherein the route data includes data of the road and time along the route.

The system is further configured to determine a plurality of transport plans for thevehicle based on matching of route data for the at least one route of the vehiclewith route data of the possible platooning companions, wherein a transport planincludes route data and platooning instructions for the vehicle along the at leastone route. The system is further configured to determine at least one platooningparameter for each transport plan that indicates a platooning performance of thetransport plan, and to determine a selected transport plan from the plurality oftransport plans whose at least one platooning parameter fulfills a decision criterion.

Platooning with vehicles, e.g. heavy vehicles, is facilitated by planning andcoordination by means of the system that may be a superior off-board system tothe vehicles. Transport assignments are fed to the system to find possibleplatooning possibilities and in that way find the most efficient and fuel savingroutes. Because of different reasons (traffic situation, weather, etc.) changes mayaccrue in the planned routes which in turn demands a new transport plan. Here a 3 system and method has been developed for fast retrieval of new transport plansat changes of the original selected transport plan, such that the vehicle wont missplatooning possibilities and deteriorate its fuel economy. The disclosed systemand method considerably limit the amount of vehicles when matching of transportassignments and in advance calculate alternative transport plans. Therebycalculations for finding a new transport plan may be speed up even if the systemmonitors many thousands of vehicles, such that the new transport plan does notbecomes direct out of date or obsolete due to changed status for any othervehicle included in the new transport plan.

The disclosure describes a less complex and faster system than previous systemfor platoon formation. Vehicles that are coordinated by means of such a systemwill often at least have an alternative transport plan that is ready for immediateexecution which leads to better fuel consumption by reducing the risk of loosingpossibilities for platooning.

According to one embodiment, the system is arranged to present the selectedtransport plan to the driver of the vehicle.

According to one embodiment, the system is arranged to save the at least one ofthe transport plans with associated platooning parameter that was not determinedas selected as alternative transport plans for the vehicle in a memory unit.

According to one embodiment, the system is arranged to determine a newselected transport plan from the alternative transport plans if the current selectedtransport plan cannot be maintained according to its route. According to oneembodiment, the system is arranged to present the alternative transport plans tothe driver of the vehicle.

According to one embodiment, the system is arranged to match route data of theselected transport plan with route data of transport plans for other vehicles of the 4 possible platooning companions in order to find new transport plans for the othervehicles and/or update existing transport plans for the other vehicles.

According to one embodiment, the transport assignment characteristic is any of:geographical coverage of assignment, time for assignment, main heading of vehicle during assignment, platooning information.

According to one embodiment, the platooning parameter is any of: estimatedreliability of transport plan, estimated fuel saving, estimated fuel loss, estimatedtime loss, position term.

According to a second aspect, the disclosure relates to a method for coordinationof platoon formation. The method comprising determining possible platooningcompanions to a vehicle based on a result of an evaluation of transportassignment characteristics for at least one other vehicle, and determining route data for at least one route of the vehicle for accomplishing an assignment of the vehicle, wherein the route data includes data of the road and time along the route.

The method further comprises determining a plurality of transport plans for thevehicle based on matching of route data for the at least one route of the vehiclewith route data of the possible platooning companions, wherein a transport planincludes route data and platooning instructions for the vehicle along the at leastone route. The method also comprises determining at least one platooningparameter for each transport plan that indicates a platooning performance of thetransport plan and determining a selected transport plan from the plurality oftransport plans whose at least one platooning parameter fulfills a decision criterion.

According to one embodiment, the method comprises presenting the selected transport plan to the driver of the vehicle. 5 According to one embodiment, the method comprising saving at least one of thetransport plans with associated platooning parameter that was not determined asselected as alternative transport plans for the vehicle.

According to one embodiment, the method comprising determining a newselected transport plan from the alternative transport plans if the current selectedtransport plan cannot be maintained according to its route.

According to one embodiment, the method comprising presenting the alternativetransport plans to the driver of the vehicle.

According to one embodiment, the method comprising matching of route data ofthe selected transport plan with route data of transport plans for other vehicles ofthe possible platooning companions in order to find new transport plans for theother vehicles and/or updating existing transport plans for the other vehicles.

According to a third aspect, the disclosure relates to a computer program P,wherein the computer program P comprises a computer program code to cause asystem, or a computer connected to the system, to perform the method accordingto any of the steps as disclosed herein.

According to a fourth aspect, the disclosure relates to a computer programproduct comprising a computer program code stored on a computer-readablemedium to perform the method according to any of the steps as disclosed herein,when the computer program code is executed by a system or by a computerconnected to the system.

Brief description of the drawinqs Fig. 1 illustrates a system for coordination of platoon formation according to oneembodiment of the disclosure and a road network with a plurality of vehicles.Fig. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method for coordination of platoon formationaccording to one embodiment of the disclosure. 6 Fig. 3 illustrates an example of coordination of platoon formation.

Detailed descriptionFig. 1 is illustrating a part of a road network 4 with a plurality of interconnecting roads. A plurality of vehicles 1, 2 is driving on the road. The vehicles 1, 2 mayinclude heavy vehicles such as trucks, busses and coaches, and lighter vehiclessuch as private cars. The disclosure is mainly intended for heavy vehicles, but may also be applied to lighter vehicles. ln order to plan and to coordinate platooning of several vehicles a system 3 forcoordination of platooning formation has been developed. The system 3 may bearranged to calculate the most efficient routes on the road network 4 with high useof platooning. According to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the system 3comprises a device 5 with a processing unit 6 and a memory unit 7. Theprocessing unit 6 may be made up of one or more Central Processing Units(CPU). The memory unit 7 may be made up of one or more memory units. Amemory unit may include a volatile and/or a non-volatile memory, such as a flashmemory or Random Access Memory (RAM). The memory unit 7 further includes acomputer program P including a computer program code to cause the device 5, ora computer connected to the device 5, to perform any of the method steps that willbe described in the following. The system 3 may be a superior off-board datasystem 3. The device 5 may be part of a remote computer, a road-side unit 8 oreven a vehicle 1, 2. lf the device 5 is accommodated in a vehicle 1, 2 it may bepart of an ECU, Electronic Control Unit, of the vehicle 1, 2. The device 5 may alsobe spread out between different entities such that parts of the computer programP are executed on several CPUs residing in the different entities.

The vehicles 1, 2, the road side unit 8 and the device 5 may be arranged tocommunicate in a wireless way, as illustrated with bent arrows in the figure. Avehicle 1, 2 is for the purpose of wireless communication equipped with a unit forwireless communication (not shown). The road side unit 8 and the device 5 may each for the purpose of wireless communication also be equipped with a unit for 7 wireless communication (not shown). A unit for wireless communication may e.g. be a transceiver.

The vehicles 1, 2 may be arranged to communicate directly with each other. Onekind of such wireless communication is referred to as vehicle-to-vehiclecommunication (V2V). The vehicles 1, 2 and the device 5 may be arranged tocommunicate with each other directly, or via an external computer 8, server, roadside unit or similar. One kind of such wireless communication is referred to asvehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2l). The wireless communication mayalso be conducted via mobile communication servers, via an application in a communication unit or via a server.

Data pertaining to the different vehicles 1, 2 such as their position, transportassignment characteristics such as route, destination, etc. may be communicatedvia wireless communication. Any such data is normally tagged with identificationdata of the vehicle the data pertain. One kind of identification data may be thenumber or license plate number of the vehicle 1, 2.

The position of each vehicle 1, 2 may be determined with a positioning unit (notshown) in the vehicle 1, 2. The positioning unit is arranged to determine theposition of the vehicle 1, 2, and may be configured to receive signals from a globalpositioning system such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), forexample GPS (Global Positioning System), GLONASS, Galileo or Compass.Alternatively the positioning unit may be configured to receive signals from forexample one or several distance detectors in the vehicle 1, 2 that measurerelative distances to for example a road side unit, nearby vehicles or similar with aknown position. Based on the relative distance or distances the positioning unitmay determine the position of the own vehicle 1, 2. A detector may also beconfigured to detect a signature in for example a road side unit, whereby thesignature represents a certain position. The positioning unit may then beconfigured to determine its own position via detection of the signature. Thepositioning unit may instead be configured to determine the signal strength in one 8 or a plurality of signals from a base station or road side unit with known position,and thereby determine the position of the vehicle 1, 2 by using triangulation.Some of the above mentioned technologies may of course be combined to ensurea correct position determination of the vehicle 1, 2. The positioning unit isconfigured to generate a position signal with the position of the vehicle 1, 2. Theposition signal may be communicated wirelessly to another vehicle 1, 2, a road-side unit 8 or the device 5.

The device 5 may have information about transport assignment characteristics forthe vehicles 1, 2 retrieved e.g. from the hauler contractors of the vehicles 1, 2.Other\Nise the vehicles 1, 2 may themselves send their transport assignmentcharacteristics, respectively, via wireless communication to the device 5. Thetransport assignment characteristics may be any of: geographical coverage ofassignment, time for assignment, main heading of vehicle during assignment, platooning information.

The system 3 is suitable for coordination of platoon formation. As previouslyexplained, the system 3 comprises a processing unit 6 and a memory unit 7. Thememory unit 7 comprises computer program code to cause the device 5, or acomputer connected to the device 5, to perform any of the method steps forcoordination of platoon formation that will now be described with reference to theflowchart in Fig. 2. The method may thus be implemented with the abovedescribed hardware of the system 3.

The method comprises determining possible platooning companions to a vehicle 1based on a result of an evaluation of transport assignment characteristics for atleast one other vehicle 2 (A1). This step may typically be done at registration of anew transport assignment for a vehicle 1. lt aims to remove other vehicles 2 thatare obviously unsuitable for platooning with the vehicle 1. At this point in time thevehicle 1 has not yet started the transport assignment. The transport assignmentcharacteristics may be any of: geographical coverage of assignment, time for assignment, main heading of vehicle 2 during assignment, platooning information 9 etc. The geographical coverage of the assignment may e.g. include a country or aregion of a country. The time for the assignment may e.g. include the date for theassignment and/or the time during the day of the assignment. The main headingof the other vehicle 2 during assignment may include any point of a compass, e.g.north, south, west or east. The compass may be divided into quarters, such thatnorth includes degrees from 315° to 45, east from 45°to 135°, south from 135°to225°, west from 225°to 315°. Platooning information may include information thatthe other vehicle 2 already is part of a planned platoon and that this platoon is full.This other vehicle 2 may thus immediately be rejected as a platoon companion tothe vehicle 1.

The method further includes determining route data for at least one route of thevehicle 1 for accomplishing an assignment of the vehicle 1, wherein the route dataincludes data of the road and time along the route (A2). One or several of themost optimal routes for the vehicle 1 are determined based on transportassignment characteristics already given such as starting location, destination,time for delivery and map data. This may be determined in the vehicle 1 itself andsent to the device 5, or determined by the device 5. The most optimal route, e.g.the shortest and/or fastest should be matched with already decided routes fromother transport plans belonging to other vehicles 2. lf there are any more possibleroutes for the vehicle 1, these routes should be saved to avoid recalculation of theroutes if a new matching process is needed in the future if transport plans arechanged because of disturbances.

When this information has been determined, more transport assignmentcharacteristics for the vehicle 1 may be extracted and/or formed from the routedata and compared to transport assignment characteristics of any other vehicle 2.Also, some transport assignment characteristics may be known in beforehand the most optimal route or routes are determined.

For example, other vehicles 2 with a geographical coverage of the assignmentthat is located out of the range of the geographical coverage of the assignment of lO the vehicle 1 may also be rejected. For example, the assignments may be locatedin different countries or different regions of a country. Further, transportassignments of the other vehicles 2 that in time are located outside the time framefor the transport assignment of the vehicle 1 plus minus a suitable margin forpossible change of the transport plan may be rejected. Also transportassignments of any other vehicle 2 that has a main heading or direction during theroute that does not agree plus minus a suitable margin with the main heading or direction for the vehicle 1 in its transport assignment may be rejected.

Also other vehicles 2 with transport assignments with platooning information, e.g.where there are completed transport plans with platooning, and where theparameters for the planned platoons show that platooning with the vehicle 1 is notsuitable may be rejected. For example, if an already planned platoon already hasa maximum amount of allowed vehicles or if the engine performance of the vehicle 1 is not sufficient to achieve efficient control of platooning.

For transport assignments of other vehicles 2 that have been rejected accordingto above, no matching of routes has to be done. Remaining transport assignmentsof other vehicles 2 that have not been rejected, which should be a lesser part ofthe original amount, should be fully analyzed, which may require matching of alltheir routes. These remaining other vehicles 2 with transport assignments thathave not been rejected are referred to as possible platooning companions.

The method further includes determining a plurality of transport plans for thevehicle 1 based on matching of route data for the at least one route of the vehicle1 with route data of the possible platooning companions (A3). A transport plan forthe vehicle 1 includes route data and platooning instructions for the vehicle 1along the at least one route. Here, the most optimal route or routes for the vehicle1 are matched with already decided routes from other transport plans belonging tothe possible platooning companions, thus the remaining other vehicles 2 that havenot been rejected. Many different routes may be found where the vehicle 1 will orwill not platoon with other vehicles 2. ll The method further includes determining at least one platooning parameter foreach transport plan that indicates a platooning performance of the transport plan(A4). The platooning parameter may be any of: estimated reliability of transportplan, estimated fuel saving, estimated fuel loss, estimated time loss, position termetc.

An estimation of reliability of the transport plan may be made based on formerexperiences of platooning of the other vehicle 2 or the time or length of road untilthe platoon may be formed etc. lf former experiences of platooning of the othervehicle 2 indicate bad platooning experiences such as bad driving behavior etc.,the estimated reliability of the transport plan may be low. lf the time, or length ofthe road, is long before the platoon may be formed, the estimated reliability of thetransport plan may be low as there is a higher risk that the transport plan may bedisturbed. “Long” may here mean more than half the time or length of the route.The reliability of the transport plan may be calculated by means of a data drivenmathematical model retrieved by machine learning. Data to create the model maybe collected during the operation of the system 3.

An estimated fuel saving may be the estimated fuel saving the vehicle 1 will makeif the vehicle 1 is driving according to the transport plan, compared to if the vehicle1 is driving according to its most fuel saving route, and/or optimal route, withoutplatooning. The estimated fuel saving may be looked up from a predeterminedtable or estimated by using an equation for fuel saving, based on place in platoon,for how long time or length the platoon is maintained compared to the total time orlength of the assignment, velocity of vehicles in platoon, the route etc.

An estimated fuel loss may be the eventual fuel loss the vehicle 1 will make if theplan fails after the vehicle 1 has started to drive according to this transport planand some or all of the platooning possibilities along the road is no more an alternative. 12 An estimated time loss may be the time loss the vehicle 1 will make if the vehicle1 is driving according to the transport plan, compared to if the vehicle 1 is drivingaccording to its most optimal route without platooning.

A position term may be a condition that the transport plan is possible as long asthe vehicle 2 has already passed by a position indicated by the position term. Thesystem 3 may thus ignore transport plans and remove transport plans that are nolonger in question (for example finished or no more possible for example becausethe contemplated platooning companion has already passed the contemplatedmeeting spot).

The method further includes determining a selected transport plan from theplurality of transport plans whose at least one platooning parameter fulfills adecision criterion (A5). The decision criterion may be the most reliable transportplan, the most fuel efficient transport plan, the most time-efficient transport plan orthat the vehicle 1 or other vehicle 2 has not passed by the position indicated bythe position term.

The selected transport plan may be presented to the driver of the vehicle 1. Thesystem 3 may thus send data of the selected transport plan to the vehicle 1 viawireless communication. The selected transport plan may be presented to thedriver e.g. via a suitable HMI-interface (Human Machine Interface) that allows thedriver to interact with the interface. For example, the selected transport plan maybe presented via a display (not shown) or a load speaker (not shown). The drivermay be allowed to interact with a touch screen, keyboard, switch, microphone orother interface of the system 3. The driver may accept the presented transportplan by interacting with the HMI, whereby the vehicle 1 automatically may bedriven according to the selected transport plan. Alternatively, the driver maymanually drive the vehicle 1 according to the transport plan. As a furtheralternative, the selected transport plan is not presented to the driver, but theselected transport plan will be sent to the vehicle 1 and the vehicle 1 willautomatically start to drive according to the selected route. According to a still 13 further alternative, the selected transport plan is presented to the driver, but thedriver does not need to accept the selected transport plan: the vehicle 1 will startdriving according to the selected transport plan anyway.

The at least one of the transport plans with associated platooning parameter thatwas not determined as selected may be saved as alternative transport plans forthe vehicle 1 for later retrieval. The alternative transport routes may be saved inthe memory unit 7 of the device 5, or in any other memory unit of the system 3.The alternative transport plans with the different possible routes for the vehicle 1may be ranked depending on among all their fuel saving and how safe they are.The alternative transport plans may be saved in the memory unit 7 in a certain data structure.

Transport plans for any new assignment to the system 3 may be developed as thenew assignment come up to the system 3. The data structure may comprisevehicle identifications and the adherent developed transport plans andcharacterizing platooning parameters.

The system 3 now monitors how the vehicle 1 accomplishes the selectedtransport plan. The vehicle 1 may continuously send its position and/or velocity tothe system 3 such that the system 3 may determine if the vehicle 1 can bemaintained according to the route of the selected transport plan. This may bedetermined plus minus a suitable margin for position and/or velocity of the vehicle1. Disturbances such as accidents, road works, difficult weather conditions, nightor day driving, queue etc. may influence the possibility of the vehicle 1 to maintainthe route of the selected transport plan. All other vehicles that are known to thesystem 3 and follow a selected transport plan are also monitored and notify thesystem 3 of their position and velocity, respectively. ln that way the system 3 maymonitor or check the accomplishment of all the selected transport plans for all the vehicles. 14 lf it is determined that the current selected transport plan of the vehicle 1 cannotbe maintained according to its route, a new selected transport plan may bedetermined from the alternative transport plans. The alternative plan or plans maybe collected from the data structure in the memory unit 7 of the system 3. Themost optimal alternative transport plan may be determined as a new selectedtransport plan according to how well the platooning parameters fulfills the decisioncriterion. This determination may be based on a machine learning computermodel and may include preferences of the driver into the calculations, alsoreferred to as a recommender system. Data to create the model is collectedduring operation of the system. This new selected transport plan may bepresented to the driver of the vehicle 1, which may as previously explained acceptthe new selected transport plan. Alternatively, a plurality of the alternativetransport plans and their platooning parameters are presented to the driver of thevehicle 1, and the driver may choose between the different alternative transportplans according to their platooning parameters etc. The chosen alternativetransport plan will then become the new selected transport plan. The vehicle 1may then be driven automatically according to the new selected transport plan, orthe driver may manually drive the vehicle 1 according to the new selectedtransport plan, as has been previously explained. For an autonomous vehicle, thesystem 3 may automatically select the best transport plan for autonomous vehicles.

As there are already ready made alternative transport plans, the system 3 mayfast change the transport plan while the vehicles continue to drive.

The new transport plan may also affect transport plans for other vehicles 2. lf anew selected transport plan has been chosen, the method may comprisematching of route data of the selected transport plan with route data of transportplans for other vehicles 2 of the possible platooning companions in order to findnew transport plans for the other vehicles 2 and/or updating existing transportplans for the other vehicles 2. The other vehicles 2 may here be other vehicleswithin a certain area of the vehicle 1, or selected other vehicles 2 according to any other criteria. This process should not require so many calculations, because it isonly two known routes that should be matched each time.

New alternative transport plans or updated alternative transport plans for othervehicles 2 may thus accrue due to the new vehicle 1. lf any of the new or updatedalternative transport plan for other vehicle 2 is determined to be more optimal orefficient than the current selected transport plan, the more optimal or efficienttransport plan may be chosen as a new selected transport plan for the othervehicle. lf an alternative transport plan of the vehicle 1 is determined to be moreefficient than the current transport plan, it may be directly shown to the driver.

Alternative transport plans are thus preliminary and may be continuously updated.They may be affected by changes in selected transport plans for other vehicles 2.

The most fuel efficient route without platooning may always be saved as atransport plan. This transport plan is always accessible as the last resource if allother alternative plans are not efficient enough or too risky.

The driver or system 3 in case with an autonomous vehicle may depending onseveral factors choose to anyway follow the old plan or choose to follow the bestalternative route. lf an alternative plan is chosen the system 3 will firstly remove itsold current plan and with this as background start updating of all alternative plansfor other vehicles 2 that has had a connection to the old plan and search for newalternative plans that have become possible now for other vehicles 2 in thevicinity. ln this process the saved optimum routes are used that were calculated atregistration of a new transport assignment, which will speed up calculations. ltmay happen that other vehicles 2 will retrieve alternative plans that are better thanthe current plan, and they may be presented to the driver. lt may also happen thatthe best alternative plan is to not platoon with anybody at all, but instead drive the closest way alone. 16 The system 3 may clean the data structure with transport plans from transportplans that are not longer in question. This may be accomplished in connectionwith evaluation of alternative plans or by means of so called garbage collection.Selected transport plans may be updated if they have not been started, and it ismade before deadline for their start. The started selected transport plans may bemore static and updated more seldom.

With reference to Fig. 3, an example of coordination of platoon formationaccording to the disclosure is illustrated. The example will now be explained withreference to the Fig. 3. In the example there are three vehicles, vehicle I, vehicle IIand vehicle lll.

Vehicle I get as assignment to drive from point A to point B. This assignment isknown to the system 3. The explained method is initiated, but no routes oftransport plans from other vehicles 2 that can be matched can be found. Atransport plan with lD=1 is created by the system 3 that includes to drive thestraight road between the points A and B without platooning. The most optimalroutes (for example the route AEIFB) are saved in the memory unit 7 for an eventual matching in the future.

Vehicle II gets as assignment to drive from point C to point D. This assignment isknown to the system 3. The method is started, and the route of Vehicle ll is by thesystem 3 matched with the route for vehicle I and a transport plan with lD=2 iscreated that involves to meet the vehicle I in point E and platoon with it to thepoint F where they are separated. The selected transport plans are communicatedwirelessly to the Vehicles I and II, and Vehicle I and II starts executing theirselected transport plans, respectively.

Vehicle III gets as assignment to drive from point G to point B. This assignment isknown to the system 3. The method is started by the system 3, but no goodmatches are found among the routes for the current transport plans. A transportplan with ID=3 for Vehicle III is created, that involves to drive the straight road 17 between the points G and B, route GIFB. When the transport plan has beenselected, an alternative transport plan with the |D=4 for vehicle I is created, thatinvolves driving the route through the points AEIFB. This route is not calculatesanew, as it was previously saved when the method was performed for the VehicleI. The alternative plan with |D=4 gets the following platooning parameters:Reliability = 85, Fuel saving: 30L, Fuel loss: 10L, Position term: point E has notbeen passed and there is sufficient time to be able to meet Vehicle lll in point I.This transport plan remains an alternative for Vehicle I as it has an inferior fuelsaving than the transport plan with lD=1. Othervvise it could directly be presented to the driver of Vehicle I.

Vehicle lll starts executing its selected transport plan, as communicated by wireless communication.

Vehicle I end up in a traffic queue when it is located in point H. The status isreported to the system 3 that discovers that accomplishment of the transport planwith ID=1 is impossible. At the same time vehicle I approaches point E. Thanks tothat the alternative transport plan with |D=4 has already been made and it has aposition term that is possible to fulfil, it is immediately presented to the driver ofthe vehicle I by the system 3. The driver of Vehicle I has the possibility to approvethe presented alternative transport plan and is spared of loosing a significant fuelsaving even if the Vehicle I has been trapped by a traffic queue and has failed to accomplish its original plan.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described preferredembodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.Therefore, the above embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appending claims.

Claims

¿ 18 Iaims

1. A system (3) for coordination of platoon formation c h a ra cte r i z e din that the system (3) is configured to - determine possible platooning companions to a vehicle (1) based ona result of an evaluation of transport assignment Characteristics for at leastone other vehicle (2); - determine route data for at least one route of the vehicle (1 ) foraccomplishing an assignment of the vehicle (1 ), wherein the route dataincludes data of the road and time along the route; - determine a plurality of transport plans for the vehicle (1) based onmatching of route data for the at least one route of the vehicle (1 ) with routedata of said possible platooning companions, wherein a transport planincludes route data and platooning instructions for the vehicle (1) along the atleast one route; - determine at least one platooning parameter for each transport planthat indicates a platooning performance of the transport plan; - determine a selected transport plan from the plurality of transportplans whose at least one platooning parameter fulfills a decision criterion.

2. The system (3) according to claim 1, arranged to present the selectedtransport plan to the driver of the vehicle (1 ).

3. The system (3) according to claim 1 or 2, arranged to save the atleast one of the transport plans with associated platooning parameter that wasnot determined as selected as alternative transport plans for the vehicle (1) ina memory unit (7).

4. The system (3) according to claim 3, arranged to determine a newselected transport plan from the alternative transport plans if the currentselected transport plan cannot be maintained according to its route.

5. The system (3) according to claim 3 or 4, arranged to present thealternative transport plans to the driver of the vehicle (1 ).

6. The system (3) according to any of preceding claims, arranged tomatch route data of the selected transport plan with route data of transportplans for other vehicles (2) of the possible platooning companions in order to 19 find new transport plans for the other vehicles (2) and/or update existingtransport plans for the other vehicles (2).

7. The system (3) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein thetransport assignment characteristics is any of: geographical coverage ofassignment, time for assignment, main heading of vehicle (1) duringassignment, platooning information.

8. The system (3) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein theplatooning parameter is any of: estimated reliability of transport plan,estimated fuel saving, estimated fuel loss, estimated time loss, position term.

9. A method for coordination of platoon formation comprising - determining possible platooning companions to a vehicle (1) basedon a result of an evaluation of transport assignment characteristics for at leastone other vehicle (2); - determining route data for at least one route of the vehicle (1) foraccomplishing an assignment of the vehicle (1 ), wherein the route dataincludes data of the road and time along the route; - determining a plurality of transport plans for the vehicle (1) based onmatching of route data for the at least one route of the vehicle (1) with routedata of said possible platooning companions, wherein a transport planincludes route data and platooning instructions for the vehicle (1) along the atleast one route; - determining at least one platooning parameter for each transportplan that indicates a platooning performance of the transport plan; - determining a selected transport plan from the plurality of transportplans whose at least one platooning parameter fulfills a decision criterion.

10. The method according to claim 9, comprising presenting the selectedtransport plan to the driver of the vehicle (1 ).

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, comprising saving at leastone of the transport plans with associated platooning parameter that was notdetermined as selected as alternative transport plans for the vehicle (1 ).

12. The method according to claim 11, comprising determining a newselected transport plan from the alternative transport plans if the currentselected transport plan cannot be maintained according to its route.

13. The method according to claims 11 or 12, comprising presenting thealternative transport plans to the driver of the vehicle (1 ).

14. The method according to any of the claims 9 to 13, comprisingmatching of route data of the selected transport plan with route data oftransport plans for other vehicles (2) of the possible platooning companions inorder to find new transport plans for the other vehicles (2) and/or updatingexisting transport plans for the other vehicles (2).

15. The method according to any of the claims 9 to 14, wherein thetransport assignment characteristics is any of: geographical coverage ofassignment, time for assignment, main heading of vehicle (1) duringassignment, platooning information.

16. The method according to any of the claims 9 to 15, wherein theplatooning parameter is any of: estimated reliability of transport plan,estimated fuel saving, estimated fuel loss, estimated time loss, position term.

17. A computer program P, wherein said computer program P comprisesa computer program code to cause a system (3), or a computer connected tosaid system (3), to perform the method according to any of claims 9 to 16.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer program codestored on a computer-readable medium to perform the method according toany of the claims 9 to 16, when said computer program code is executed by asystem (3) or by a computer connected to said system (3).