It will be some time before fully autonomous delivery vehicles are commonplace on our roads, but the technology is fast making inroads in other links in the logistics chain. Autonomous robots are now commonplace in warehouses around the world.
In March 2018 Norwegian companies Wilhelmsen and Kongsberg formed Massterly, a joint venture company to provide what is claimed to be “a complete value chain for autonomous ships, from design and development to control systems, logistics services and vessel operations”.
Kongsberg is providing the technology and systems for it to operate in completely autonomous mode by 2020, sailing between Yara’s Norwegian production facilities at Herøya and the ports of Brevik and Larvik. Massterly will be based at offices in Lysaker, Norway, and will be fully operational from August 2018, according to the companies.
Autonomous trains are already running at a Rio Tinto mine in Western Australia. Rio Tinto hopes to have a fully autonomous train network by late 2018. China started operating what it calls an autonomous hybrid bus/train in Zhuzhou in October 2017.
In the United States start-up Embark is trucking refrigerators between Southern California and Texas using autonomous vehicles.
The first large-scale use of autonomous trucks is likely to be “platooning” – where there is a driver in the leading vehicle, which is linked wirelessly to a convoy following behind.
