An interview with Jeroen Ploeg, Lead Control Architect at 2getthere

Platooning is one of the most talked about ideas in autonomous mobility. At the same time, it is one of the hardest to turn into a reliable, commercial reality. The concept sounds simple: multiple vehicles drive closely together, coordinated as a group, to increase transport and reduce fuel consumption. But according to Jeroen Ploeg, the real challenge lies in what platooning actually requires behind the scenes: a tight interaction between vehicle control, communication, system engineering and operational safety.

“Platooning is not ‘vehicle B follows vehicle A’,” Jeroen explains. “It’s about making several vehicles behave like one system, while still guaranteeing safety and comfort.”

What platooning is and why it matters

In public transport, capacity is a constant constraint. If you can reduce the headway between vehicles, you can move more passengers without necessarily adding more infrastructure. That’s where platooning becomes attractive.

In a platoon, vehicles coordinate their speed, acceleration, and braking to maintain stable distances. The goal is to operate closer together, but also in a stable way (i.e., preventing “ghost traffic jams”). If done right, platooning can deliver:

• Higher throughput on existing routes

• More reliable schedules

• Smoother traffic flow and less stop-and-go behavior

• Better use of fleet capacity, especially in high-demand corridors

But getting there is not trivial.

How platooning works in practice

Platooning relies on a combination of capabilities that must work together in real time:

1) Vehicle coordination and control

Each vehicle needs precise control over motion: speed, braking, and spacing. Even small deviations can ripple through the group. The control strategy must keep the platoon stable, not just “close.”

2) Situational awareness

Every vehicle must understand its surroundings. Not only external obstacles, but also the dynamics of the platoon itself. That requires robust perception and predictable behavior.

3) Communication

Vehicles need to exchange information, such as intent, status, and timing signals. “In many deployments you will likely rely on cellular connectivity,” Jeroen says. “That means working with local service providers and dealing with real-world network performance.”

4) Fail-safe behavior

The defining feature of a commercially viable platoon is how it behaves when something is not ideal: sensor uncertainty, unexpected events, or communication latency. “You need to design for the imperfect day,” Jeroen explains. “The system needs a safe fallback strategy that keeps the platoon stable even when conditions change.”

Why commercial platooning is still rare

Platooning has existed in prototypes and pilots for years. Yet you rarely see it deployed at scale in real vehicle operations. Jeroen points to the same reason that holds back many advanced autonomy features: the bar for reliability and safety is extremely high.

“It’s the combination that makes it difficult,” he says. “Not one module. Platooning touches everything: vehicle behavior, communication, infrastructure assumptions, operational procedures, and safety arguments. It’s a system-level challenge.”

In other words: it’s not enough to prove that platooning can work. You must prove that it will work consistently, safely, and predictably in everyday operations.

Jeroen’s role: making the system work end-to-end

Jeroen’s work sits at the intersection of engineering and operational reality. His focus is on ensuring that platooning is not just an algorithm, but something that can be introduced responsibly in a real deployment.

A key part of that is connectivity and coordination across the full environment. “When you depend on cellular networks, you need people on the ground who know how to navigate local providers,” he says. “Wireless communication is a critical layer. It must be robust and it has to be designed with local realities in mind.”

That means translating high-level platooning requirements into implementable system behavior:

• What information must vehicles share, and when?

• How do you keep spacing stable under different operating conditions?

• What is the fallback behavior if communication degrades?

• How do you validate that the system remains safe and comfortable for passengers?

“The engineering question is always: how do we make it reliable in the field?” Jeroen says. “That’s where platooning becomes real.

Introducing platooning: step by step, not by hype

For 2getthere, platooning is not positioned as a buzzword. It is a capability that must be introduced carefully and progressively through controlled steps, validated behavior, and operational readiness.

“Ultimately, it’s about trust,” Jeroen explains. “Passengers trust the vehicle. Operators trust the system. Platooning raises the stakes, because vehicles operate closer together. That means every part of the system has to be extremely robust.”

And that is exactly what motivates the work: building an advanced technology and making it practical.