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The long road towards automation
such as safety, risk management, operational integration, certification and more. For example, our tractors have to comply with around 80 standards and other requirements, that has taken us tens of thousands of hours of engineering. The automation kit and the rest of the software environment need a similar level of safety and reliability and take time to develop. Yes, you can now order a DbW vehicle, but developing a complete and integrated solution for a container terminal or distribution centre takes a lot of time and hard work. Customers also need to be aware that automated systems are not necessarily faster or cheaper than human drivers. But automation can help address challenges related to availability of skilled personnel, peak demand and energy consumption. Integration is essential To automate a container terminal or distribution centre effectively you need to integrate the automated vehicles with the terminal and its operational procedures, fleet management, etc. - those are different at every terminal. It also takes time for new technology to be accepted. At Terberg we want to offer solutions to our customers, working closely with our automation partners. We look at a customer’s current operations, starting with how the tractors are despatched. Sometimes that is by voice messages over the radio and sometimes electronically using a display. There are many more such things to be considered, and you need to be able to present a good safety case. And effective cybersecurity is essential - just look at the attacks on some terminals and other businesses.”
Both autonomous operation and tele-operation have long been hot topics in the container terminal industry. Automation is also highly relevant to distribution centres and some factories. In fact, there’s a lot of hot air around this topic. Both forms of automation require “drive-by-wire” (DbW) vehicles. Terberg will start supplying the diesel DbW option in the second quarter of 2024, as discussed elsewhere in this magazine. Wouter Bosschieter (Technology Manager – Vehicle Automation) Remy de Bruijn (Business Development Manager) and Anton Vuijk (Manager Terberg Transport Solutions) clarified some of the issues associated with automation.
The state of the automation market Remy explained “The key focus of our customers is stable growth. Automation can help with that as it makes them less dependent on a limited pool of drivers and can potentially offer more operational certainty. We have been working with several partners on autonomous and tele-operation, making steady progress. There are lots of software companies which tell our container terminal customers that they have the perfect solution to driver shortages and cost reduction. However, in practice, that doesn’t usually work, at least not yet. Machine integration is a key issue, and there is a huge difference between automating a single tractor and a whole terminal. Basically, it’s easy to demonstrate a tractor driving autonomously around an empty yard - but integration into a terminal with mixed traffic and obstacles is much more difficult. We have to remind customers that they need to consider issues
“Machine integration is
a key issue, and there is a huge difference between automating a single tractor and a whole terminal.”
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TERBERG SPECIAL VEHICLES MAGAZINE 2023/2024
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