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Look – no hands, in Hamburg

[ June 24, 2021   //   ]

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and German truck maker MAN are developing and testing self-driving trucks in the port of Hamburg.
In late May, practice run were successfully carried out for the first time with a self-driving truck in regular traffic at HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder as part of the Hamburg TruckPilot project.
The self-driving truck steers itself across the terminal almost autonomously.
As part of the two-day practice tests, Spedition Weets brought 40-foot containers from Weets Logistic Center in Soltau to Hamburg on behalf of VW Group Logistics. A wide range of data for automated driving was already collected along the A7 motorway on the route to Hamburg. The Weets driver moved to the passenger seat at the check-in gate at the entrance to Terminal Altenwerder to make way for a trained MAN safety driver who monitored the autonomous driving functions and could take the wheel if needed. The prototype truck carefully accelerated on its own, approached the storage block at 25 km/h, and manoeuvred the container chassis backwards into the assigned lane. The automated return trip to the check gate took place following handling of the container. The safety driver did not need to intervene a single time.
The Hamburg TruckPilot project is part of the strategic mobility partnership between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Volkswagen Group. The project partners will present detailed results of the project at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg in October 2021.

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