Towards an autonomous future for AGVs

Casting back to TOC Europe 2017, there was much anticipation on the exhibition floor as Terberg and Gaussin unveiled new autonomous vehicles, the AutoTUG and Autonomous Prime Mover, respectively. Combined with other companies, including Aidrivers and DG Robotics, which were working on retrofitting autonomous systems to terminal tractors, the industry seemed poised for a new generation of autonomous horizontal transport options. An executive at one of the large global terminal operators remarked to WorldCargo News that this was a welcome development as the industry needed more cost-effective alternatives to AGVs for automated horizontal transport.

Heading into TOC Europe 2023 this month, it is fair to say that autonomous vehicles have not yet delivered on their promise. Apart from Hutchison Ports’ Laem Chabang terminal in Thailand and a handful of applications in China, there are no known fleets of autonomous tractors navigating freely around container terminals in a mixed traffic environment.

Speaking to WorldCargo News, Ralf Konnerth, director of Business Line Automated Horizontal Transport, Port Solutions at Konecranes, said that there is a gap between expectation and the reality of what the market can deliver. Autonomous trucks are being tested on some public roads, but there is still a supervisor in the cab, which is not what terminal operators are looking for.

The autonomous tractors at Laem Chabang operate in mixed traffic, including driving into a designated area where people are waiting to remove the twistlocks, but the regulatory requirements in that market are different to Europe and other jurisdictions.

As far as it is known, none of the companies offering autonomous tractors are able to deliver the certifications for the automation and safety systems that terminal operators in Europe and elsewhere require.

Outside the zone

AGVs and automated straddle carriers operate in a closed, fenced-in zone, where there are no manned machines or people on the ground. In a European setting, the automation systems that control this environment must meet the requirements of the European Machinery Directive and relevant harmonised standards. In addition, other local rules and regulations may be required.

The AGV systems that Konecranes has supplied for APMT MVII and RWG at Rotterdam were certified by a third party and have a type approval issued by a formal authorised state body.

Autonomous vehicles are being developed on a different pathway. At this point, most of the pilot projects in container terminal applications involve a single machine operating in isolation. The initial focus is on controlling the machine’s navigation with the precision required to drive underneath cranes and/or park a trailer while avoiding other vehicles.

The automotive industry is working towards Level Five in SAE J3016 Recommended Practice: Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms Related to Driving Automation Systems for On-Road Motor Vehicles. This means fully autonomous operation, where the vehicle has no steering wheel or manual controls.

For container terminal applications, “AGVs are already there”, said Konnerth, while at the same time meeting the requirements of the European Machinery Directive. Terminal operators, however, want to take things further and see driverless vehicles move out of the controlled safety zone for applications such as moving containers from a stacking yard to a rail interchange.

Konnerth said that Konecranes recognises that terminal operators need this flexibility, and the challenge for the Finnish firm as a supplier is how to develop standards-compliant and certified systems that allow driverless machines to operate in a mixed machine environment. To meet this need, Konecranes is testing a terminal tractor that uses a transponder-based navigation system with collision-avoidance technology that can be deployed in a mixed traffic environment.

Beyond the fence

As has been noted previously by WorldCargo News, Konecranes has partnered with Terberg to develop an automated terminal tractor, with the latter company supplying a tractor with drive and steer by wire, and Konecranes developing the autonomous system.

Konnerth explained that this is fundamentally different to the automated systems Konecranes has for AGVs. With AGVs, the equipment control system (ECS) knows the direction, travel path, speed and other factors for all the machines. Outside of the safety zone where there are other vehicles outside the system and possibly people, systems on the vehicle must be able to detect presence, direction and speed of other vehicles and obstacles as it navigates and take appropriate action.

The red cloud is indicative of the range of the sensor coverage, adjusted so the AGV is visible (the actual range area is larger).

To achieve this, Konecranes has developed a collision-avoidance system (CAS) that achieves a 360-degree sensor view with a detection range of up to 100m. The type of configuration depends on the application, and can include 3D LiDAR, laser scanners and radar sensors. The system detects object position and motion and then ‘considers’ that motion when making decisions. It prevents collisions with obstacles in the vehicle’s path while observing traffic rules when turning and passing.

Konecranes is now looking for customers for the first pilot installations at container terminals. While this is a big step forwards, Konnerth does not see it as opening the door for container terminals to replace ‘automated’ machines, such as AGVs, with a fleet of autonomous tractors.

Supporting the quay-to-stack transfer on the apron at the quayside is a different application to having a small number of autonomous vehicles performing a specific drayage task, such as moving containers to a rail yard. AGVs operating on defined paths controlled by a central ECS can travel very close together.

No interaction

By contrast, independent autonomous machines do not know the travel path of other equipment and will slow their speed around other equipment. Crossing and passing are necessarily much slower. “This negative impact on terminal performance is the other key reason that we have not got autonomous vehicles operating today,” added Konnerth.

The counter argument is that autonomous vehicles will rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to operate with intelligence at the machine level, and central control systems, such as the ECS, will be replaced by a combination of intelligent vehicle systems and extended TOS functionality.

Konnerth believes this is an oversimplification, as there are too many system element parts of fleet control, including sequencing the arrival of different vehicles in turn at a location under a crane, to replicate fully at the machine level.

While there are still many challenges ahead in deploying a fleet of autonomous vehicles, the global population of AGVs in container terminals is set to increase significantly. As has been noted elsewhere in this edition of WorldCargo News, APM Terminals has said it is continuing with an AGV system as it extends its Maasvlakte II terminal. Elsewhere, Eurogate has decided to convert its Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven to an ASC and AGV yard system, after conducting a pilot project with four Kalmar AutoStrads over a number of years. There is a whisper in the industry that Eurogate is not alone, and other new terminals in Europe will also use AGVs.

This article was written by Paul Avery at World Cargo News and published in their June 2023 magazine edition.