Autonomous trucks

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and Munich-based truck manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus are developing and testing self-driving trucks for use in hub-to-hub container traffic as part of the ‘Hamburg TruckPilot’ project.

In late May, practice tests were successfully carried out for the first time with a self-driving truck prototype featuring electronic automation systems, in regular traffic at the Port of Hamburg-located HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA).

Till Schlumberger, project manager at HHLA, said: “Autonomous driving is coming. The law on autonomous driving that was recently passed confirms it. At HHLA, we want to – and must – prepare ourselves at an early stage for the prospect of autonomous trucks picking up or delivering containers at our terminals.”

The goal of the Hamburg TruckPilot research project is to develop automation solutions for road transport. Specifically, it focuses on customer-specific deployment and the feasibility of integrating self-driving trucks in the container handling process at the CTA.

What the tests involved?

As part of the two-day practice tests, Spedition Weets brought 40-foot containers from Weets Logistic Center in Soltau to Hamburg on behalf of VW Group Logistics. A wide range of data for automated driving was already collected along the A7 motorway on the route to Hamburg.

The Weets driver moved to the passenger seat at the check-in gate at the entrance to Terminal Altenwerder to make way for a trained MAN safety driver. They monitored the autonomous driving functions and would take over the wheel if needed. The prototype truck carefully accelerated on its own, approached the storage block at 25 km/h, and manoeuvred the container chassis backwards into the assigned lane. The automated return trip to the check gate took place following handling of the container. The safety driver did not need to intervene a single time.

German parliament and the Federal Council recently passed a law which makes deployment of autonomous driving systems possible when they take place in defined areas of operation such as on routes between logistics hubs, and when they are monitored by technical supervisors.