Unmanned Systems Technology 006 | ECA Inspector Mk2 USV | Antenna systems | Northwest UAV NW-44 | Unmanned ground vehicles | Navigation systems | Lunar X challenge

56 U nmanned and autonomous ground vehicle technology has made quite significant advances in the past year, particularly for cars on our roads. With the autonomous mining and agriculture programmes that were set up ten years or so ago now being implemented, the technology is maturing for consumer use. Autonomous mass-transit pods are already on the streets of several European cities, and more are due this year. At the same time, the major car makers are moving towards autonomous operation, with Ford for example tripling the size of its fleet in its advanced engineering programme and already testing the technology in a wide range of conditions such as snow. Changes to traffic regulations will allow commercial driverless cars to be leased to customers by the end of 2016 or the start of 2017, and this will see autonomous operation moving from the mine and the field to the street, with the technology of mass-transit pods and driverless cars becoming very similar. Mining and construction One of the biggest driverless vehicle projects in the world is in Western Australia, where Rio Tinto is moving iron ore from its mines at Yandicoogina and Nammuldi using a total of 69 remote- controlled trucks from Komatsu controlled by remote operators at an operations centre in Perth, 1200 km to the south. In the same region another miner, Fortescue Metals Group, is working with Caterpillar, and has a fleet of 12 remotely operated trucks at its Solomon Mine sites. Also collaborating with Caterpillar is Commercial driverless cars and transport systems are now on the horizon, writes Nick Flaherty , who reports on developments in the technology The road ahead February/March 2016 | Unmanned Systems Technology Ford’s Fusion vehicles use high-resolution 3D maps and information about features including road markings, signs and topography (Courtesy of Ford)