Driverless trucks prove their worth
The autonomous truck is within reach. This is made clear by the final report of the ATLAS-L4 (Automated Transport between Logistics Centres on Motorways at Level 4) research and development project. After three years, the twelve project partners from industry, science, software development and infrastructure have come to the following conclusion: thanks to the work of around 150 engineers, the autonomous truck in road traffic has become a reality.
The truck industry has been researching autonomous trucks for many years. The background to this is that there are fewer and fewer drivers. In Germany alone, there is already a shortage of around 100,000 drivers. The use of driverless trucks as part of hub-to-hub automation for shuttle services between logistics centres could make an important contribution to compensating for the shortage of drivers.
The research consortium, which includes truck manufacturer MAN, Knorr-Bremse, Leoni, Bosch, Fernride, BTC Embedded Systems, Fraunhofer AISEC, the Technical University of Munich, the Technical University of Braunschweig, TÜV Süd, Autobahn GmbH and the Würzburg Institute for Traffic Sciences, has set itself a clear goal: to bring a Level 4 automated and thus autonomous truck for hub-to-hub transport on expressways.
This was based on a law passed in 2021 that generally allows autonomous driving on defined routes under technical supervision. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action had provided a total budget of 59.1 million euros for the project.
‘Together with our partners, we set ourselves a high goal and realised an industrialisable basic concept for autonomous driving in hub-to-hub operations. The development and integration of the redundant components required for safe operation, such as steering, brakes and the on-board network, as well as the creation of a validation concept, required interdisciplinary expertise and close teamwork. As a consortium, we have proven with this project that autonomous trucks are feasible,’ summarises Dr Frederik Zohm, Chief Technology Officer at MAN Truck & Bus.
Three years of research
The ATLAS L4 project was launched on 1 January 2022. After the Federal Motor Transport Authority granted the first Level 4 test permit for a commercial vehicle manufacturer in April 2024, the premiere on public roads took place with the first motorway journey of an autonomous truck in Germany. A safety driver was always on board during this and all subsequent test drives. The automation software in the vehicle was continuously optimised over a long period of time through regular releases and tested directly in practice.
Safety-related aspects were also part of the project. The aim was not only to ensure the autonomous technology operated without disruption. It was also important to protect the systems from unauthorised access, such as cyber attacks.
Next steps
The work carried out by ATLAS-L4 can therefore be used as a basic concept for future industrial developments, although various details identified by the project still need to be clarified before autonomous trucks can go into series production. ‘We have done valuable pioneering work by providing practical proof of the technical feasibility of autonomous trucks,’ says project coordinator Sebastian Völl, MAN Truck & Bus.
Transport automation has many facets beyond autonomous trucks. Telematics systems capture real-time data and process it to deliver added value in specific applications. In the transport sector in particular, they have become a driving force in optimizing existing processes along the supply chain. Digitalization and automation have already reached levels that may render some job profiles obsolete or at least reduce the need for personnel. This is the topic of one of today‘s panel discussions. (ben/rok)
Fully automated transport – where technology takes over and humans remain irreplaceable, Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., B1.232
