Joint efforts will provide Level 4 Autonomy for natural resource sector roads.
Robotic Research, a global leader in Automated Driving Systems (ADS), and FPInnovations, a Canadian private non-profit research and development center, announced their collaboration to develop an off-road truck platooning system for the forest industry. This project will combine Robotic Research’s expertise as a global leader in self-driving technology with FPInnovations’ knowledge in forestry and transportation to adapt the truck platooning technology to off-highway environments.
The multi-year project aims at accelerating the adoption of off-road automated-vehicle (AV) technology to improve safety and address an acute labour shortage, thereby improving the quality and viability of rural jobs where natural resources are located. Looking to the future, a successful project would not only benefit Canada’s forest industry, but other Canadian sectors such as mining resources and natural resources in Northern Canada.
Robotic Research will create unmanned convoys of Class 8, ADS-enabled trucks that follow a driver in a lead vehicle. The project will adapt existing technology to challenging Canadian conditions such as four-season weather and operations on off-pavement roads, particularly for resource roads in continental and polar climates.
In Phase I, truck convoys will be put through safety trials that mimic the routes from harvesting sites to sawmills. Once the system is proven to be secure, FPInnovations will run trials on actual resource roads, known to be challenging because of dust, sharp curves, and steep slopes. Source