This session presented a wide-ranging overview of road freight transport current topics, with speakers from Australia, the US, Sweden, Germany and France.

It addressed efficiency of road freight vehicle through several highlights:

the use of Performance Based Standards (PBS) in Australia, enabling a more "case by case" vehicle design and allowance, has already managed to save since 2007 approx. 1.5 billion truck.kilometres. It also proved in some case more secure than the prescriptive standard. Combined with an Intelligent Access Program (IAP) it enables road managers to grant access to the road network according to vehicle characteristics;

the real-time information on parking space availability, with the example of PTV's App Truck Parking Europe, which addresses one of the first truck driver's needs;

automation and connectivity are at the heart of USDOT research, whose 5 years roadmap has been presented with a focus on truck platooning, multimodal partnership in the CATMA platform.

Sustainability was addressed more specifically through two main topics:

energy source and feeding, key to transport decarbonation, was addressed by the presentation of the Swedish testing of electric road systems (ERS). Even if no technology is preferred, some limits and benefits of each three (induction, ground conductivity or overhead conductivity) were pointed;

infrastructure resistance and durability while dealing with heavy vehicle loads, and above all bridge load effects and fatigue. WIM system has been described as a useful tool, when connected and used for infrastructure maintenance, and as a preventive mean when used as enforcement device.

During the questions and answers, the audience came back on truck platooning, wondering whether it is considered as a system. The panel agreed that it was not the case now. For that, a full frame (regulatory, technical…) is expected, and is currently under way. It was pointed out that when looking for roads where platooning would be possible, that could probably also means that those roads would be suitable for extra-long vehicles, bringing enhanced efficiency even quicker.

Considering the high investment and technologies involved in the energy switch toward electricity, a question raised about synergies with automation. The panel confirmed this possibility, the corridors being most of the time identical, needing vehicle monitoring and a lot of energy at the same location. Of course, the panel reminded that electric solutions were highly dependent on the energy mix of the country considered. The model needs to be " case by case ". However, ERS evaluation has brought some surprises, showing quite a clear dislike of catenaries among the population, while confirming that electrical feeding into the pavement solutions raised maintenance problems, especially for heavy duty vehicles.

The question of linking, to meet road managers need for checking, roadside equipment measurements (as WIM devices, on board sensors and PBS documents was answered positively, this need being very important, and it was indicated that the Australian scheme included such possibility. It was highlighted that these comparisons and checks rely on ITS, requiring live data communication. In Europe, on-board weight measurement is not compulsory for the moment. ITS should help developing real time permitting, as it does for parking needs for instance. The forecasting dimension has also been mentioned.