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This paper introduces Robostreet Flow, an innovative freight architecture that optimizes vehicle design, convoy formation, and operational models to significantly reduce costs in long-haul trucking. The Flow platform features a lightweight, ultra-low-drag electric tractor that achieves a 40% reduction in drag compared to conventional models, enabling a 20.5% energy savings when operating in a coordinated convoy. By leveraging automation and lightweight materials, the system cuts operating costs from 9.4 to 4.1 cents per ton-mile, showcasing a transformative approach to freight efficiency.
Operating four automated trucks with a single driver can slash freight costs by over 56%, revolutionizing the economics of long-haul trucking.
Line-haul trucking costs are dominated by three comparably sized components: energy, driver labor, and equipment. Most efficiency technologies address only one component at a time. This paper presents Robostreet Flow, a freight architecture that jointly optimizes the vehicle, convoy formation, and operating model to minimize cost per ton-mile on high-volume point-to-point corridors. The Flow platform is a battery-electric 6x4 tractor with a teardrop single-seat cab and a drag coefficient of 0.35, approximately 40% below that of conventional Class 8 tractors. A carbon-composite monocoque and structurally integrated batteries reduce net vehicle weight by 50%. A 513 kWh tractor battery and a 340 kWh powered trailer battery provide a 500-mile single-charge range. Four Flow trucks operate as a coordinated convoy with a safety driver only in the lead vehicle, while three followers operate in SAE Level 4 automated mode. Computational fluid dynamics simulations show that close following at an 8 m gap reduces follower drag coefficients by 42-48% and follower peak frontal pressure by approximately a factor of four relative to the exposed lead vehicle. A longitudinal energy model calibrated to these results predicts fleet-average consumption of 1.27 kWh/mi in convoy, compared with 1.60 kWh/mi for an isolated vehicle, for a 20.5% energy saving. Electricity cost is approximately 17% of the equivalent diesel fuel cost. Amortizing one driver across four trucks and accounting for the additional payload enabled by lightweighting reduce operating cost from 9.4 to 4.1 cents per ton-mile, a 56% reduction relative to a diesel baseline. Sensitivity analysis, a hub-to-hub operating concept, and regulatory implications are also presented.
