The European story
Hamburg – also known as the “Venice of the North” because of all its waterways – is home to the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) Container Terminal Altenwerder. It’s a massively impressive undertaking; recently it became the world’s first container handling facility to be certified climate-neutral.
But now it has yet another claim to fame: the container terminal is home to an autonomous truck, which is the star player in what’s termed its Hamburg TruckPilot project.
The project – which kicked off back in 2018 – is being run in conjunction with MAN Truck & Bus. Back then, it wouldn’t have been possible for an autonomous truck to operate within a container terminal; it was only at the end of May this year that the Bundestag and Bundesrat passed the law on autonomous driving, which allows the use of such autonomous vehicle systems in Germany in defined operating areas. And such it was that, at the end of May this year, a self-driving prototype truck steered itself across the terminal autonomously. Well, almost autonomously.
A driver in an autonomous truck?
Technically speaking, the MAN wasn’t actually driverless. There was an actual person in the driving seat – but he wasn’t doing the driving. Why the need for the driver then?
Well, the autonomous MAN has been entrusted to Detlev Gosler, a driver with Emden-based freight forwarder Spedition Weets. He drives a “normal” truck to the container terminal regularly – and so he is very familiar with the procedures. But this time, everything was different – because he wasn’t actually driving the vehicle.
As part of the Hamburg TruckPilot project, Gosler has been transporting 40-foot containers during a 70-km journey from Weets Logistic Center in Soltau to Hamburg on behalf of VW Group Logistics. While on the highway, Gosler was behind the wheel of the autonomous MAN, driving as per usual.
Then, when the autonomous MAN reached the check-in gate at the entrance to the container terminal, Gosler hopped out of the driver’s seat and sat in the passenger seat instead.
However, the driver’s seat didn’t remain empty. It was occupied by a trained MAN safety driver. He monitored the autonomous driving functions and could take the wheel if required. But this wasn’t needed. The prototype truck carefully accelerated on its own, approached the storage block at 25 km/h, and reversed the truck into the correct parking position. The automated return trip to the check-in gate took place after the container had been offloaded. During the entire time that the MAN was at the container terminal, the safety driver never needed to intervene. The Hamburg TruckPilot project was deemed a success!
Elation at success
Till Schlumberger, project manager at HHLA and the person responsible for the Hamburg TruckPilot, is very satisfied with the performance of the autonomous MAN: “Autonomous driving is coming. The law on autonomous driving that was recently passed confirms it. At HHLA, we want to – and must – prepare ourselves at an early stage for the prospect of autonomous trucks picking up or delivering containers at our terminals."
Sebastian Völl, Project Manager for Automated Driving at MAN Truck & Bus, is equally delighted. "Hamburg TruckPilot is an important technological milestone on the road to hub-to-hub automation," he points out.
Many benefits
There are many benefits to autonomous driving. One is obvious: it’s terrific when you have a driver shortage. This is something that is happening all over the world. Last week, several areas in the United States ran out of fuel – because there were simply no delivery drivers available.
Autonomous trucks are much safer – machines don’t get tired – and they’re more economical too. But are they needed and wanted in South Africa? And could we see lots of autonomous vehicles on our roads in the not-too-distant future?
An autonomous future for SA?
In order to get the answers to these questions, we turned to Nick Porée. A transport economist and freight transport consultant; Porée has more than 30 years of experience as a consultant in freight operations management, systems development, training and transport research. His company, NP&A, has for the past four years been the lead consultant engaged in cross-border and corridor studies in Sub-Saharan Africa. He was the freight transport consultant for the SADC/Tripartite project on “Liberalisation of Road Transport” and harmonisation of the Road Transport Regulatory Systems in ESA.
While a niche application for automated vehicles is always possible, he doesn’t think that South Africa – or the African continent for that matter – is anywhere near ready for the widespread use of automated vehicles.
“For the safe operation of automated vehicles, I am sure that there must be a high level of discipline on the roads. I would hate to see Melbourne trams or German/Swiss-style urban railways in our cities; I think there would be 10 crashes or fatalities per day,” he maintains.
Porée believes that automated vehicles have a role to play in countries such as Australia, where there is very disciplined driving, the road users are law-abiding and speed limits are adhered to. “I could imagine automated vehicles operating there on defined routes, with a mass of electronic safeguards, signs, and monitoring equipment,” he predicts.
In South Africa, on the other hand, he says the traffic is too uncontrolled. “I also don’t think automated vehicles will handle our massive potholes. Plus, automated vehicles in South Africa would have problems with taxis parking in traffic circles or intersections to unload. They would also have issues with the gravel roads that do not have defined edges. And I don’t think that they would be able to navigate the detours around the potholes or sinkholes; in fact, I don’t think the automated vehicles would know where to drive,” Porée points out.
So, there you have it. Automated vehicles are alive and well in Europe. But they won’t be coming to South Africa any time soon.
