Science

A self-driving dumper truck is being used in the UK


A self-driving dumper truck is being used in the UK to help speed up roadworks on the nation’s motorways

  • The vehicle weighs 25 tonnes and can carry up to 40 tonnes of dirt  
  • It uses tech designed for Australian mine trucks to navigate itself  
  • It is being tested off the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon

A 25-tonne self-driving truck is hitting British roads in a bid to speed up time-consuming roadworks plaguing the nation’s highways.   

The vehicle can carry a 40-tonne load and has been fitted with gadgets originally developed for autonomous trucks in Australian mines. 

It is being tested off the A14 in Cambridgeshire where work is under way to upgrade a 21-mile (34km) stretch of the road between Cambridge and Huntingdon. 

The vehicle can carry a 40-tonne load and has been fitted with gadgets originally developed for autonomous trucks in Australian mines, including a laser light unit to spot objects in its way

The vehicle can carry a 40-tonne load and has been fitted with gadgets originally developed for autonomous trucks in Australian mines, including a laser light unit to spot objects in its way

It is hoped that autonomous trucks could be developed to operate round the clock, meaning work is finished faster. 

Dumper trucks are used to move excavated earth, with around 10 million cubic metres moved by 200 dumper trucks during the A14 upgrade. 

Julian Lamb, deputy project director on behalf of Highways England for the A14, said that a shortage of drivers prompted the trial. 

‘It’s not to replace drivers but it’s to be able to respond to the capacity that we will need,’ he said. 

He added that there was ‘no reason why autonomous vehicles couldn’t work 24 hours per day’ and that the technology could make sites safer for workers by keeping people away from machines. 

The roof of the truck is fitted with a GPS tracker, WiFi receiver and laser light unit. When switched to autonomous mode it is controlled by computers, with the steering wheel motionless as it rounds corners. 

Fiona McDonald, project manager with Highways England, said she hoped the technology could be ‘fast-tracked’ into use as safety regulations have been developed in Australia where similar trucks are in use in mines. 

‘We’re not starting from scratch,’ she said. ‘This stuff’s been done before.’ 

However she said it would be the first time autonomous trucks have been used in roadworks anywhere in the world.

Richard Austin, who works for earth moving subcontractor CA Blackwell, is from Australia and suggested using the technology for roadworks projects. 

It is hoped that autonomous trucks could be developed to operate round the clock, meaning work is finished faster. Dumper trucks are used to move excavated earth, with around 10 million cubic metres moved by 200 dumper trucks during the A14 upgrade

It is hoped that autonomous trucks could be developed to operate round the clock, meaning work is finished faster. Dumper trucks are used to move excavated earth, with around 10 million cubic metres moved by 200 dumper trucks during the A14 upgrade

He said the price of sensors has reduced due to investment by the automotive industry to automate cars, and some Australian mines are fully automated. 

There would be a ‘hierarchy of controls’ to ensure safety, he said, including precision mapping to within 25mm so a truck ‘just cannot wander off’ and strictly controlled sites.

‘Lastly, if everything else fails, if somebody’s ignored all of your controls and come into your work zone, if everything else has failed, then the truck itself can still see, it can observe what’s going on around it, detect an obstacle that shouldn’t be there and it can stop,’ he said. 

The one truck being tested has been fitted with old research gadgets developed seven years ago. 

It is expected to take two to three years before autonomous trucks could be in full operation. 

This means they will not be used on the A14 project, due to finish by the end of 2020, but may be used on future projects like the Lower Thames Crossing and improvements to the A303 near Stonehenge. 

Highways England has committed £150,000 from its innovation designated fund into the A14 dump truck trial. 

HOW DO SELF-DRIVING CARS ‘SEE’?

Self-driving cars often use a combination of normal two-dimensional cameras and depth-sensing ‘LiDAR’ units to recognise the world around them.

However, others make use of visible light cameras that capture imagery of the roads and streets. 

They are trained with a wealth of information and vast databases of hundreds of thousands of clips which are processed using artificial intelligence to accurately identify people, signs and hazards.   

In LiDAR (light detection and ranging) scanning – which is used by Waymo – one or more lasers send out short pulses, which bounce back when they hit an obstacle.

These sensors constantly scan the surrounding areas looking for information, acting as the ‘eyes’ of the car.

While the units supply depth information, their low resolution makes it hard to detect small, faraway objects without help from a normal camera linked to it in real time.

In November last year Apple revealed details of its driverless car system that uses lasers to detect pedestrians and cyclists from a distance.

The Apple researchers said they were able to get ‘highly encouraging results’ in spotting pedestrians and cyclists with just LiDAR data.

They also wrote they were able to beat other approaches for detecting three-dimensional objects that use only LiDAR.

Other self-driving cars generally rely on a combination of cameras, sensors and lasers. 

An example is Volvo’s self driving cars that rely on around 28 cameras, sensors and lasers.

A network of computers process information, which together with GPS, generates a real-time map of moving and stationary objects in the environment.

Twelve ultrasonic sensors around the car are used to identify objects close to the vehicle and support autonomous drive at low speeds.

A wave radar and camera placed on the windscreen reads traffic signs and the road’s curvature and can detect objects on the road such as other road users.

Four radars behind the front and rear bumpers also locate objects.

Two long-range radars on the bumper are used to detect fast-moving vehicles approaching from far behind, which is useful on motorways.

Four cameras – two on the wing mirrors, one on the grille and one on the rear bumper – monitor objects in close proximity to the vehicle and lane markings. 





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