Racing for the prize

free driving system of its kind to receive approval for use in a European country is a significant step forward for our industry,” he says.

Successful application of the technology to freight transport is expected to be a game changer. Aurora, one of the technology leaders, calculates that the US autonomous trucking market is worth some $700bn. And the global market could be worth $4tn. And that does not include the local goods delivery market, which Aurora says is worth another $100bn in the US while the global market is worth some $400bn.

It is hardly surprising, then, that all the major commercial vehicle manufacturers are positioning themselves to offer autonomous vehicles while newcomers are jostling to grab a share of the market.

The past year has seen more and more real-life trials as products get closer to market readiness. Development of systems for use on public roads is most advanced in North America, where autonomous vehicles are already legal in many states.

Davies reports

Truck manufacturers are working hard on developing autonomous vehicles to win a share of an estimated $4tn (£3.2tn) global market. Malory

The use of autonomous vehicles on UK roads came a big step closer in April when Ford revealed that it had received approval to go live with its BlueCruise system on some 2,300 miles of motorways.

BlueCruise is a Level 2 hands-free driver assistance system that is currently only available on one car, the Mustang Mach-E, for a monthly subscription of £17.99.

A modest step forward, nevertheless, says general manager Ford Model e Europe Martin Sander. “It’s not every day that you can say you’ve placed one foot in the future, but Ford BlueCruise becoming the first hands-

LEADING THE WAY: Ford’s BlueCruise system is the first of its type to be approved for use on European roads

WHAT LEVEL?

Partnerships in place

Volvo and Paccar have both been working with Aurora on hub-to-hub autonomous trucking systems, but Volvo is clear that this is only intended for the North American market – for the moment, at least. Iveco has partnered with Plus, while Mercedes-Benz and its US subsidiary Freightliner are working with Waymo and Torc Robotics.

In April of this year, Aurora released the first “feature complete” version of the Aurora Driver with Beta 6.0. According to Sterling Anderson, Aurora co-founder and chief product officer, the system now has “all of the technical capabilities it needs to power trucks built for it in commercial service on our Dallas to Houston launch lane”.

Ford’s BlueCruise system is the first use of a Level 2 system on the road in Europe. But there is still a long way to go before we reach fully autonomous operation.

 Level 2 is semi-automated driving where the system can drive the vehicle in the transverse and longitudinal direction. However, the driver must constantly monitor and take over instantly if necessary.

 Level 3 is conditionally automated driving where the driver no longer has to constantly monitor the system and can do other things. But the driver must take over control if requested by the system.

 Level 4 is highly automated driving over a defined route between two terminals. The vehicle can drive autonomously under limited conditions but can switch off when a driver takes over.

 Level 5 is fully automated driving under all conditions enabling the vehicle to navigate by itself to the destination.

Aurora Horizon, which is due to launch next year, will start as a terminal-to-terminal service. Customers will drop trailers off at an Aurora terminal, from where they will be driven autonomously to another Aurora terminal and can then be picked up for onward delivery. The plan is to add customer end-point options, but only for customers with significant volumes.

Aurora is partnering with Continental to produce the first commercially scalable generation of the Aurora Driver. Continental will “industrialise” it and deliver the entire hardware set, as well as a new fall-back system.

Keeping It Private

TEAMING UP: Waymo is developing technology with Mercedes-Benz and its US subsidiary Freightliner

Production is expected to start in 2027, following the expected launch of Aurora Horizon in 2024.

Nikolai Setzer, CEO of Continental, says: “We are proud to demonstrate our leading technology expertise by being responsible for the development, manufacture and implementation of the autonomous driving system kits and the fall-back path for Aurora’s autonomy system.”

DROP OFF AND PICK UP: The Aurora Horizon terminal-to-terminal service is due to launch next year

It is much easier to introduce autonomous vehicles onto private sites, where the conditions of the operation can be controlled without coming into contact with the public.

Port of Felixstowe introduced its first two autonomous tractor units (ATs) for mixed traffic container terminal operations at the end of 2022. It is using Qomolo Q-Trucks from Chinese group Westwell, initially to transport containers between the port’s Trinity and North Rail terminals.

Karen Poulter, the port’s chief information officer, says: “The ATs use LiDAR – a light sensing technology that creates a 3D map of an AT’s surroundings using a laser and receiver – which, when combined with its on-board 360-degree cameras, provides real-time, all-round vision. This enables it to see everything instantaneously in its vicinity to allow safe and accurate navigation.

“With the support of the Extreme Precise Position system, it can achieve positioning accuracy of 2cm and a steering angle accuracy of 0.5 degrees.”

MAN has also been developing autonomous technology as part of project ANITA, which focuses on the transfer of containers from road to rail. Trials started last year at a container depot at Ulm Dornstadt. MAN aims to sharpen the electronic senses of the autonomous truck in the real operating environment over the course of the trial, so that it can perceive the surroundings, react and plan like a human driver. A safety driver is always on board to intervene if necessary.

Meanwhile, Volvo has been developing systems for mining operations, as well as for ports and logistics centres.

It already has fully autonomous transport operations running in Brönnöy, Norway, where seven autonomous Volvo FHs are transporting limestone on a 5km stretch between the mine and the crusher. Since 2021, it has also been working with Holcim Switzerland to test and further develop the use of autonomous electric vehicles at Holcim’s limestone quarry in Siggenthal. The solution being deployed in this project is the Tara transport system and it includes the TA15—a fully automated electric dumper.

Scania last year launched a trial of 40-tonne autonomous mining trucks in partnership with Rio Tinto at the Channar mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The aim is to develop more agile autonomous haul trucks that offer both environmental and productivity benefits.

Rio Tinto group technical MD Santi Pal says: “Our climate action plan includes phasing out the purchase of new diesel haul trucks by 2030 and partnering with industry leaders, such as Scania, across a range of fields is an important step towards achieving that. As well as the potential decarbonisation benefits, this partnership provides a path to potential productivity improvements.”

In Europe, Scania has been working on a pilot in partnership with HAVI Supply Chain to use a fully autonomous vehicle to transport goods in regular traffic conditions between logistics hubs.

The pilot will see the autonomous truck drive between Södertälje and Jönköping, a three-hour journey of around 300km. The route forms part of a longer logistics flow for HAVI, with the first and last mile being handled by manually driven vehicles. Project manager for Scania Robert Melin Mori says: “We need to learn about autonomous operations now so that we are ready as soon as the technology is ready. We believe this pilot will be a hugely important stepping stone.”

In February, Iveco set out plans for testing S-WAY trucks using PlusDrive Level 2++ autonomous systems in Germany. It intends to expand the trials into Austria, Italy and Switzerland over the coming months. “This is an important phase in our plans to bring highly automated trucks to market,” says Marco Liccardo, Iveco’s chief technology and digital officer.

Plus COO Shawn Kerrigan adds: “Given that Germany alone faces a shortage of 60,000 truck drivers, our highly automated driving solution, PlusDrive, will help improve road safety, sustainability and driver recruitment and retention issues confronting fleets in the region.”

Startup shake up

The established giants of the commercial vehicle industry are also facing challenges from startups such as Einride, which was founded in Sweden in 2016. Einride’s concept is an end-to-end operation using electric trucks on a grid of roads, with the operation controlled by its Saga software platform. It has been running trials of autonomous vehicles in Sweden and last year completed a public road pilot in the US, which involved moving finished goods between a GE Appliances factory and a warehouse in Tennessee.

Government Forecasts Dramatic Growth

The UK government reckons that by 2035 some 40% of new cars could have self-driving capabilities, and at the same time grocery delivery and passenger services “look likely to be operating in self-driving vehicles”.

It set out its position last year in a report ‘Connected and Automated Mobility 2025: Realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in the UK’, which emphasised the potential safety benefits. The report quotes the Institute for Engineering and Technology, which has claimed that for every 10,000 errors made by drivers, a self-driving vehicle will commit just one. “This is supported by evidence showing that in 2020, 88% of all recorded collisions on roads in Great Britain involved human error as a contributory factor,” the report says.

The UK’s initiative on platooning, HelmUK, reported last summer after five years of trials. The results in terms of fuel savings were less than spectacular, showing a real-world saving of only 0.5% compared to automated cruise control.

It found that under perfect platooning conditions, fuel savings of up to 5% could be expected. The problem was that the trucks had to drop out of the platoon for nine out of 10 of the junctions on the route. As a result, the vehicles could spend only 53.5% of their driving time in a platoon.

The report concluded that the 0.5% fuel saving meant that the business case for platooning was currently weak: “HelmUK’s stakeholder engagement found that a minimum fuel saving of 2% would be required for operators with large fleets to invest in platooning technology.”

However, the trial did demonstrate the safety of the system. The report said that the DAF platooning system was fail-safe in the road trials and overall the vehicles were safer in platooning mode. Platooning is not expected to introduce new collision types and is predicted to have a small beneficial effect on common HGV collision types.

The importance of demonstrating the safety of autonomous systems is critical. A spokesman for Volvo Autonomous Solutions says: “We believe delivering a truly safe solution is key to public acceptance. We ensure the safety of our technology through strategies and processes that are fully integrated to the development flow.

“We take a holistic approach and implement risk mitigation principles that look at safety requirements that go beyond the vehicle to cover all aspects of autonomous operations.

“We have also developed our own safety level strategy where we categorise the complexity of the operation from low complexity (only automated vehicles in the autonomous operating zone) to highest complexity (on public roads). By that we can define the safety target per application.”

Einride signed its first UK deal with PepsiCo earlier this year to operate electric vehicles between Walkers sites in Leicester and Coventry.

FRESH COMPETITION: Startups such as Sweden’s Einride are challenging established OEMs in the autonomous market

The aim is to establish a network of partners connecting additional shippers and operators, which will enable cost-efficient scaling of the grid together with increased emission savings. Once a critical mass of transport volumes is established it plans to expand the grid by algorithmic optimisation, and by introducing human-led autonomous technologies such as Einride’s cabless trucks, which are monitored by a remote operator. 