Cooperative ecological truck platooning optimization with vehicle-to-vehicle communication in freight hub

Truck platooning, enabled by vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology, offers significant potential for enhancing traffic efficiency while reducing fuel consumption and emissions. This study presents a multi-objective optimization framework for truck platooning within freight hubs. The proposed approach implements a cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) model for platoon management, facilitating real-time computation of emission factors and fuel consumption based on vehicle-specific power (VSP) distribution. The multi-objective optimization model considers both ecological costs (emissions and fuel consumption) and additional waiting expenses (drivers' salary and delayed penalty). The methodology is evaluated through comprehensive numerical experiments on a modified Nguyen-Dupuis network comprising 13 nodes and 19 links, examining various dispatching strategies across different departure intervals and maximum platoon sizes. Comparative analysis demonstrates that our dynamic programming approach consistently outperforms greedy algorithms across most simulation scenarios. Experimental results indicate that optimal fleet benefits are achieved with a 30-min departure interval and 5-truck platoon size. With a 60-min interval and 8-truck platoon configuration, CO2 emissions decrease by 551.24 kg and fuel consumption reduces by 3224.76 L compared to individual truck operations. The findings emphasize the critical importance of balancing ecological benefits against operational constraints, particularly the tradeoff between environmental advantages and additional waiting costs. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable logistics optimization and provides practical insights for implementing efficient platooning strategies in freight operations.