Representations of truck platooning acceptance of truck drivers, decision-makers, and general public: A systematic review

Abstract

Truck platooning, involving two or more automated trucks virtually linked in a convoy through vehicle automation and communication technologies, has become a core topic in the long-haul freight transport industry. Despite its potential benefits – fuel efficiency, reduced carbon emissions, operation cost savings, improved road safety, and alleviated traffic congestion – further research is required to understand the representations of technology acceptance that will mediate its adoption across different stakeholders. This study presents a systematic review of the representations of decision-makers, truck drivers, and the general public on truck platooning acceptance. A total of 35 papers were included in the review and grouped into (i) studies with no platooning experience, (ii) studies with a simulated platooning experience, and (iii) studies with an on-road platooning experience. Representations were extracted using thematic analysis to synthesize the perspectives of each stakeholder and organized in themes. Even when similar themes emerged, representations highlight each stakeholder singular perspective. Although decision-makers have a more positive outlook on the potentialities of the technology, they are concerned about several obstacles related to its implementation and risks that may undermine the promised efficiency benefits of truck platooning. Regarding general public, peripheral drivers are mainly concerned about the reliability and safety of truck platooning and the potential traffic conflicts. Truck drivers denote the potential advantages in driving comfort and road safety, but highlight their concerns about employment, the reliability of the automation, loss of driving pleasure, trust in the platooning systems and their elements, and additional stress associated with the reconfiguration of their activity by the technology. Meanwhile, considering the role of experience, when the technology was experimented on-road, representations became more positive. Still, although these experiments are closer to real-world context, they only focused on basic driver-truck interactions and did not account for multitask driving scenarios, nor explored truck drivers’ employment concerns.