The SCALE initiative is aimed at accelerating the transition to autonomous and electric supply chains. With the project, Chalmers University of Technology is working with several partners to further develop autonomous solutions that will address numerous challenges faced by the sector today.
Robin Hanson, Associate professor within Supply and Operations Management at the Department of Technology Management and Economics, explains the aim and significance of the SCALE project:
“From a research perspective, an important aim of the project is to identify prerequisites, challenges, and potential effects of automating the loading and unloading of autonomous trucks. Here, we consider not only the loading and unloading processes as such, but also the surrounding system.”
“It is an important subject for several reasons. In the project, we have considered automated loading and unloading mainly from a perspective of autonomous trucks. One of the challenges of applying autonomous trucks concerns the interfaces of loading and unloading. In a traditional transport setup, the loading and unloading processes are often performed by the driver of the truck, which means that another solution is necessary if autonomous trucks are used.”
“Moreover, with automated loading and unloading, it would be easier to achieve round the clock deliveries, which could in turn reduce congestion on the roads and also increase the utilisation of the trucks. With an increased utilisation of the trucks, investments in electric trucks, which are typically associated with a high initial cost but lower running costs than traditional trucks, become increasingly profitable” says Robin Hanson.
What are the results so far?
“Within the project, we have developed and demonstrated a solution for automated loading and unloading, which can support a transition to autonomous transport. In addition, we have identified several requirements that need to be fulfilled for automation to be possible, as well as a number of challenges that need to be overcome. Currently, we are compiling results relating to the potential effects of automating the loading and unloading. Here, we can see a potential for smoothening material flows by enabling round the clock deliveries.”
Will automated transports take over in the future?
“In the long run, I believe that transports increasingly will be automated. There are many benefits that can be realised by that development. However, there are still challenges that need to be overcome before we can have a widespread application of automated transports on public roads”, says Robin Hanson.
See the video about the SCALE project above.
Researchers at Chalmers: Robin Hanson, Farook Abdullah Sultan, Dan Andersson, Mats Johansson, Tarun Agrawal, Gunnar Stefansson, Nils Thylén
Researchers at University of Gothenburg: Konstantina Katsela, Michael Browne
Industry partners: Einride, MariTerm, Toyota Material Handling, SKF
The project is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.
- Associate Professor, Supply and Operations Management, Technology Management and Economics