Mospolitech Unmanned Truck Management System for Trunking

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• Unmanned trucks
• Unmanned trucks in Russia

2022: Announcement of the domestic unmanned truck control system

On March 30, 2022, Moscow Polytechnic University announced the development of a domestic unmanned truck control system that will save from 10 to 25% of the costs of operating freight transport, including fuel.

Moscow Polytechnic developed a system for managing unmanned trucks for trunk transportation

According to the developer Vladislav Yuzhakov, the created software algorithmic complex is a multi-agent control system, including a control room for unmanned cargo. cars

In working on this system, we studied many parameters and consequences, found out that an autonomous system saves from 10 to 25% of the cost of operating freight transport, including fuel. In the future of five to seven years, the system will switch to the management of fully unmanned vehicles. First, the driver will perform the role of accompanying one car, then such a driver will be at the head of the convoy for several trucks, and finally, fully autonomous freight without the presence of a person. told author of development

The study is planned to be completed in the summer of 2022, as of March 2022, tests of the technical project of robotic transport systems for freight transportation on an unmanned logistic corridor on the M7 (-) highway are underway. MoscowKazan

As a result, the developers intend to offer representatives of the freight industry technical and technological solutions for remote and autonomous control of trunk trucks.

As of March 2022, according to the developers, we can only talk about semi-automated control, in which freight transport columns are controlled not by operators remotely from stationary control rooms, but by drivers who, by analogy with air transport pilots, spend 98% of their time not behind the aircraft console, but on situation control.

The idea of ​ ​ unmanned cargo transportation is not new, but now, according to Vladislav Yuzhakov, a researcher at Moscow Polytechnic, it has a chance of implementation. Losses of roadside services aimed at servicing truckers, as well as a possible reduction in driver's staff, are often cited as counterargues for the implementation of such projects.

However, calculations show that fears are groundless. The presence of the driver in such a system remains, its functions change, and the role of the human factor in possible unforeseen situations is reduced. This reduces maintenance and fuel costs.

In the context of forced import substitution and restrictions on foreign spare parts, the issues of saving on maintenance and fuel, optimizing freight transportation and reducing transport downtime due to the constant shortage of qualified personnel are especially acute. The implementation of such a project requires the development of domestic IT solutions and the release of domestic components. Physically, such components are present in the country, but they are small-scale production.

Yuzhakov compares the situation in the industry with the situation in the banking sector, which technologically lagged behind the European one for several years and therefore, bypassing the European evolution of the banking service, immediately switched to the active introduction of IT technologies for customer service.