Traft Truck Project Pilotless truck

2017

Traft will be engaged in development of technologies for UAVs

On October 4, 2017 the Traft transport company announced plans for start of own division for development of technologies for pilotless machines — Traft Lab. The decision on it was made after failure of the contract for start of the Russia's first pilotless truck from large car maker. Read more here.

Traft intends to be engaged independently in development of the open platform within which it will provide to car makers, developers and other partners in the field of self-governed machines access to own intelligent transport system of Traft-OnLine which will perform function of automatic placement and scheduling of orders for transportation for UAVs (passenger and cargo).

In plans of the company — adaptation for partially pilotless management of the production Hyundai Porter truck and development of essentially new truck on the same platform. The first sketches of an autobot were announced at the closed meeting of experts within the international exhibition of commercial Comtrans transport which was taking place in September, 2017.

According to the project documentation of Traft Lab for the developer of the pilotless truck, the complex should allow the cargo CU to make during tests on the road with an equal asphalt covering the following types of maneuvers and signaling:

• The movement in a band with set speed;
• The movement as a part of an organized column;
• Observance of a safe distance with ahead the going CU as a part of a column or independently;
• Evolution in the next band at the left, evolution in the next band on the right;
• The movement at a speed below 15 km/h for accomplishment of parking maner and other necessary movements in the closed territories similar on character to a warehouse complex, gas station, point of collection of a payment;
• Maneuvering in limited space, including near a penalty, correction of provision of the truck for loading, the movement by a backing for an entrance to a loading ramp;
• Journey of simple and difficult intersections;
• Emergency brake application;
• Journey of barriers, the check point, moving, customs holes, entrance on a platform;
• Giving of a sound signal, inclusion of abnormal dimensions.

Are not going to develop own cars under the Traft brand in the company yet. Traft intends to use production cars of car makers, providing them the technologies and software for management of Traft-OnLine cargo transportation, in passing finishing vehicles to a possibility of their pilotless management.

As the additional direction in Traft consider creation of devices which will transfer normal cars with internal combustion engines to electric drives.

Students from three countries will develop design of the Russia's first commercial pilotless truck

On August 16 it became known that students from Shtiglitsa Academy, Academy of Stroganov, the Moscow Polytechnic University, the University of applied sciences of the city of Lahti (Finland) and the Belarusian state academy of arts will develop design of the truck for the Russia's first pilotless cargo transportation of Traft transport company. The results of creative tender will be summed up at the International forum of innovations in industrial design of PUSHKA which will take place on November 22 in Moscow.

In the fall of 2017 the cargo vehicle with the system of pilotless management will come to vehicle fleet of carrier where its preparation for the first commercial run from Moscow to St. Petersburg to which the UAV will go after passing of testing on a polygon will begin.

The existing projects of pilotless trucks were executed on the basis of production cars with a standard design of a body and a cabin therefore organizers of the International forum of innovations in industrial design PUSHKA and Traft company suggested young industrial designers to create a unique design for the pilotless truck which will select it in a flow and will help to distinguish from other vehicles on the card at satellite monitoring. Prototype designs of the main winner of competition will be directly involved at a design of the pilotless truck.

According to the chief executive of Traft Artur Muradyan, the project of pilotless cargo transportation should develop harmoniously not only regarding technical training of the car, but also in the direction of a so-called form factor — conceptual judgment of the visual environment for the autorobot and his infrastructure. Traft actively popularizes this aspect: the company already acquired the right to installation on the polygon of special road signs, "Attention, on road section - the UAV!", which were developed in Artemy Lebedev's Studio.

Special polygon for testing of pilotless trucks

The TIS holding by request of Traft and with assistance of Rosavtodor constructed in Russia the first special polygon for testing of pilotless trucks based on the warehouse Shakhovo complex in Moscow area.

Results of tests of pilotless trucks on a special polygon, ready to opening, in Moscow area will allow to accelerate process of start of trucks with an auto pilot on federal roads of the country.

The experimental platform is built based on the existing warehouse Shakhovo complex by developer holding TIS by request of Traft transport company which in 2017 is going to complete tests of the existing hardware and technical complexes for pilotless management and to perform the first commercial run by the pilotless truck from the vehicle fleet.

The main feature of a polygon in Shakhovo – programmable variability of his landscape that will allow to create to the UAV effect of an unpredictable road situation as it happens in real life.

Tests of trucks with an auto pilot on a polygon situated near Moscow will be included in the program of actions of Rosavtodor within the national Caravan project, part in which is also taken by Traft company. In the closest plans of carrier start of the seasonal movement of pilotless trucks between Moscow and Krasnodar during the summer period. Besides, for journey of cars with an auto pilot federal road builders conduct preparation of a section of the route of M-7 Volga (Kazan – Naberezhnye Chelny) which will be ready in 2018.

See Also: By 2025 the leading car makers are going to bring to the market at least 5 models with auto pilots. Until the end of 2017 in China the biggest will appear in the world the proving ground for unmanned vehicles. The new platform as reports China Daily, will be built in the city of Zhangzhou in the Province of Fujian in the southeast of the country. The cost of a polygon of 56 square kilometers is estimated at $1.4 million. In the territory the network of the highways equipped with necessary infrastructure and road signs (in more detail) will be created.

2016: Software tender for the procurement for pilotless trucks

The logistic company Traft announced in November, 2016 the beginning of order taking from domestic and western car makers and IT developer for implementation in cargo transport of the vehicle fleet of hardware and technical complexes for pilotless management. It is said in the special document sent in the Russian IT companies which are engaged in development of the pilotless systems and representations of domestic and foreign automobile brands.

Till March 01, 2017 the cargo carrier will define the supplier integrator of pilotless software who within the next 8 weeks should install the intelligent system of pilotless management on 20 low-tonnage trucks from vehicle fleet of the company. Testing of cars, ready to pilotless management, should begin no later than June, 2017 on specially equipped polygon of the company near Kashirskoye Highway in Moscow. Traft is going to hold testing of pilotless trucks with a loading capacity up to 3 tons in the shortest possible time to transfer to them from 30 to 45% of volume of the regular cargo transportation within Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar.

The company pays attention that due to the lack at the moment legislative study of a question of management of pilotless transport in each of machines behind a driver's seat there will be a special operator. It will control system operation at any time to interfere with functioning of robotic algorithms, noted in Traft.

The chief executive of Traft Artur Muradyan, referring to the document published by the company with rules of the tender and technical specifications for candidates, reported that the candidate developers wishing to take part in tender should provide for examination of the logistic company the hardware and technical complex at a stage of a ready industrial or preindustrial sample. According to A. Muradyan, the sample, first, should contain basic functions of electronic assistants for the help to the driver (the system of deduction in a band, control of blind zones, rapprochement control, an adaptive cruise control), and secondly, on the commonly accepted international classification of SAE International (Community of automobile engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers) to correspond to the first level of pilotless management and to have "a technology basis for effective implementation of the second level of pilotless management".

It should be noted that SAE International includes six classes of autonomy – from manual control to entirely unmanned vehicle. The first level provides work of alerting systems about danger of collision with cars, pedestrians, intersections of the line of a marking and also identification of road signs. The second SAE level is the already active help to the driver providing intervention in a management system: snubbing, deduction in a band.

Traft reported that according to the results of detailed testing of the selected pilotless complex the optimal variant of use of pilotless trucks for implementation of transportations in the city will be defined.

The commercial director of Traft Andrey Savin notes that "for the company when choosing a system of pilotless management the fact of potential economy of fuel and control of wear of the engine of the cargo truck was important. Due to observance the UAV of the high-speed mode possible to cut fuel consumption and to minimize load of a roadbed". In turn the analytical researches Traft show that use of cars weighing more than 5 tons by the logistic companies with the metal suspender leads to destruction in the large cities up to 5 cm of a roadbed annually. Traft said that until the end of 2017 the company will transfer not less than 60% of the regular vehicle fleet to pilotless piloting, previously having undertaken global personnel reform as a result of which all acting drivers will be retrained as operators of pilotless vehicles. The company also said that until legalization of the standards convertor unit without use of the driver on public roads each truck will be serviced without fail by the living driver who resides behind a driver's seat to have an opportunity at any time to interfere with a situation and to take over control.

Robotics