The concept of data flying between trucks, from truck to base station and within each truck - all to make instantaneous decisions with life-or-death implications - is daunting.

"The amount of data being moved about the truck is a lot higher," said Alan Amici, chief technical officer at the global connectivity corporation TE. "For platooning, you need real time control."

Amici said trucks might be operating on data loads of 125 to 500 kilobits per second, but "With high-speed data moving around in the truck, you can get that up 10 megabits per second, to 100 megabits per second, and when you get into autonomous vehicles, you could be approaching 1 gigabit or 10 gigabits per second. So, it's really high-speed data that allows much more control."

The Peloton system links acceleration and braking directly to the engine controls, bypassing the driver when two trucks are paired, although both drivers continue to steer and can take full control if a situation warrants it.

"We can send data very rapidly between the two trucks," Switkes said. "It's all electronically integrated. The reaction is about 30 milliseconds, compared to a human taking 1 to 1.5 seconds to react, at a minimum."

The Peloton control center will determine when conditions are suited to pairing two trucks.