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In a near future, platooning could become one of the most accessible strategies to help reduce the consumption of fuel and the emissions of toxic gases in the atmosphere, while also adding safety to the users and generating a better traffic flow. Nowadays, the auto industry and the governments are facing enormous challenges to reduce the amount of pollution in the atmosphere, to decrease the dependency on fossil fuels to generate energy and to increase safety on the highways. Several approaches are made, such as bio-fuels, hybrid and electric vehicles, engine downsizing and new modes of transportation that are more versatile and environmentally friendly. The downside is that most of this efforts are costly and require time and expense to be put to work. Platooning is an alternative option to minimize the impact to the environment profiting from the aerodynamic effects that occur naturally around a moving vehicle.

Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE), a research project funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, has developed the technology and the strategy to create fully functional road trains that allow vehicle platoons to operate in public highways. The project intends to establish important concepts to show why platooning systems are a good way to increase safety and reduce pollution on tomorrow's highways. As part of the activities within the project, the authors performed fuel consumption simulations to estimate the fuel consumption reduction of the platoon due to the aerodynamics improvement. Dynamic simulations of the platoon behaviour in certain normal and emergency situations were also performed. Fuel consumption tests were also performed in companies proving grounds. These tests were performed using two trucks and three cars. Different platoon configurations were used, involving some or all the vehicles.