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6 Mission-critical info for UST professionals Platform one Scania has designed out the operator cab in its next generation of driverless construction vehicle (writes Nick Flaherty). The AXL uses a combination of radar, Lidar and camera sensors to detect obstructions, people and other vehicles around it, with a GPS receiver for navigation. Radar sensors are reliable, but the resolution is insufficient to identify the likes of pedestrians and small objects at a distance. The camera offers enough detail and a good overview in two dimensions but requires a huge amount of software to convert 2D images of the surrounding environment to 3D, which is why the Lidar sensors were added. “We need an overlap between the sensors, so that one can be a back-up,” said Fredrich Claezon, system architect for autonomous vehicles at Scania. “What happens if the camera and radar suggest conflicting information? Which of them should we trust? With Lidar, we can obtain a better basis for decisions.” Scania sees software as a higher priority than hardware for its autonomous vehicle designs. However, the design is optimised for quarries and mines where the travel routes are simple and there are well-established obstacles, minimising the complexity of the software. “The system isn’t street-smart yet but it’s certainly smart enough for use in mines,” said Magnus Granstrom, development engineer in the autonomous systems team. “Driving in a mine is fairly simple and predictable. If you’re driving in a more dynamic and less predictable environment though, more work is needed.” The challenge has been to balance the truck’s proportions and blend the front module with the tipper unit. “Without a driver, half the cab is gone. A conventional mining truck has two distinct parts – the cab and the tipper unit. We’ve aimed for an integrated styling,” said Granstrom. Autonomous trucks Truck is truly driverless Scania’s AXL autonomous and cab-less mining tipper truck has given it integrated styling October/November 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology