Cargo Business Techwire

Friday, June 20, 2014

Port of Rotterdam plans to test self-driving trucks

The Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, will be using self-driving trucks to deliver cargo to other Dutch cities within five years if a plan by a group of logistics and tech companies is successful.

"There are countless benefits. Self-driving cars need less space and therefore use asphalt more efficiently, they avert traffic jams and reduce accidents," said Infrastructure and Environment Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, who is promoting the project. "They are also more environmentally friendly."

The Netherlands is reviewing traffic laws to clear the way for large-scale testing of the technology on public roads, according to a letter written to Parliament by van Haegen. The first stage of testing would start with computer simulations, the letter explained, noting that the trucks would be tested on a closed track before driving out on public roads.

A consortium of logistics and technology firms submitted the project application. The group includes Transport and Logistics Netherlands, DAF Trucks, the Port of Rotterdam and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, also known as TNO.

"We want to do the first demonstrations in the beginning of next year and roll out the trial in a controlled environment as soon as possible," said Bastiaan Krosse, a spokesman for TNO.

The road trial will involve two full-sized lorries driving in what is called a "platoon," and could take place in the Rotterdam port or on or at the A270, a motorway with advanced infrastructure in the southern Netherlands, according to Krosse.

"The goal is to develop a reliable system over the next five years," Krosse added.
Similar experiments are underway in other European countries "but what makes this unique is that no other project has a hard target of bringing this to market within five years, with the backing of the government," he said.

For more of the Reuters story: reuters.com