Cooperative Truck Platooning Pilot Program
Learn about the Cooperative Truck Platooning Pilot Program and how to participate.
Cooperative truck platooning in Ontario
Cooperative platooning is when two or three vehicles equipped with driving support systems and vehicle-to-vehicle communications are driven together as a group.
Driving support systems technologies include advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that can assist human drivers with either steering and/or braking/accelerating.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communications (V2V) technologies allow vehicles to wirelessly exchange information such as the speed and position of surrounding vehicles.
By being able to communicate with each other, vehicles have the potential to travel closer together in a safer manner.
In the Cooperative Truck Platooning Pilot, every truck in the platoon is operated by a licensed driver who has received training specific to the system they are engaged with and who can take control of the vehicle at any time.
Truck platooning has the potential to improve the flow of traffic, move goods more efficiently, reduce fuel consumption, and drive economic growth and investment.
About the pilot
Ontario’s Cooperative Truck Platooning Pilot Program launched on January 1, 2019 and allows for the testing of connected trucking technologies.
Participants must follow certain program conditions such as:
- having a licensed driver with 5 years of driving experience and a clean driver’s abstract in each vehicle
- mandatory carrier-operator qualifications
- only operating along certain routes
Signage
Cooperative truck platoons must have signs clearly displayed on the rear of all platooning vehicles:
Participants are required to follow certain specifications so that the signs are easy to spot on the road and are highly reflective during both day and night.
Authorized network for travel
Testing is limited to sections of highways that have the safest conditions, are controlled access, multi-lane, and divided (often referred to as freeways, expressways and parkways). This is referred to as the authorized network for travel.
The authorized testing network consists of:
- Highway 401 – Windsor (Provincial Road) to Tilbury (Essex Road 42) – 40 km
- Highway 401 - Sweaburg Road to Veterans Memorial Parkway – 37 km
- Highway 403 – Brantford (Oak Park Road) to Woodstock (Oxford Road 55) – 25 km
- Highway 401 - Homer Watson Boulevard to Oxford Road – 35 km
- Highway 400 - Rankin Lake Road to MacTier – 24 km
- Highway 11 – Highway 124 to Burks Falls – 42 km
- Highway 401 – Carmen Road to Upper Canada Road – 19 km
Maintaining a safe following distance
One of the key features of cooperative truck platooning is that all vehicles can travel closer together. Participants must adjust their following distance depending on their speed.
Speed [km/h] | Speed [m/s] | Following time [s] | Following distance [m] |
---|---|---|---|
100 | 27.8 | 1.7 | 47.3 |
90 | 25.0 | 1.7 | 42.5 |
80 | 22.2 | 1.7 | 37.7 |
70 | 19.4 | 1.7 | 33.0 |
60 | 16.7 | 1.7 | 28.3 |
50 | 13.9 | 1.7 | 24.6 |
40 | 11.1 | 1.8 | 20.0 |
30 | 8.3 | 2.4 | 20.0 |
20 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 20.0 |
10 | 2.8 | 7.1 | 20.0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 20.0 |
Program eligibility
Eligible applicants for the pilot include:
- carriers
- original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
- technology providers
- academic or research institutions
- manufacturers of parts, systems, equipment or components for automated driving systems
- manufacturers and software developers of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)
- manufacturers of equipment and parts for heavy trucks
How to apply
Read the program conditions to make sure you can meet the requirements of the pilot before applying.
To apply for the pilot, email Platooning.Monitoring@ontario.ca for an application form.
Program conditions
Read the full program conditions, including the following topics:
- Overview of the program
- General conditions
- Safe operation
- Vehicle configuration types
- Cooperative truck platoon restrictions
- Inclement weather/visibility/road
- Carrier qualifications
- Driver qualifications
- Areas of operation
- Rest/emergency stops
- Truck Inspection Stations (TIS)
- Data reporting and evaluation
- Notification of collisions/incidents/infractions
- Cargo restrictions
- Special equipment requirements
- Rear signage requirements
- Speed restriction
- Speed recording device
- Revocation of approval
- Cybersecurity declaration