MAN and HHLA with the Autonomous Hamburg TruckPilot

MAN Truck & Bus and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) have successfully completed the joint project Hamburg TruckPilot, marking a milestone in automated container transport. Autonomous driving has the potential to make freight transport safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.

“Pilot projects like Hamburg TruckPilot demonstrate that the use of self-driving trucks is technologically feasible and can be efficiently integrated into logistics processes. Autonomous driving will be a game changer in the transport sector. In close collaboration with customers and partners, we are testing practical automation solutions with the goal of bringing self-driving trucks to series production by 2030,” said Dr. Frederik Zohm, MAN Board Member for Research and Development, regarding the project results that MAN Truck & Bus presented together with HHLA at the ITS World Congress 2021 on October 13 in Hamburg.

Hamburg TruckPilot: Pioneering Achievement Through Cooperation

MAN Truck & Bus and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG successfully completed the pilot project Hamburg TruckPilot in the summer of 2021. The objective of the three-year project, which was also part of the strategic mobility partnership between the City of Hamburg and Volkswagen AG, included the development and practical testing of an autonomous truck for container handling at the HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA). During practical trials, the logistics partner, the forwarding company Jakob Weets e.K. from Emden, initially transported 40-foot containers, driven by a driver, on behalf of Volkswagen Group Logistics to the CTA terminal in the Port of Hamburg. There, the truck drove autonomously across the terminal area and moved smoothly in mixed traffic with other road users. It approached its target in the block storage lane and also maneuvered backwards into the parking position with high precision. After the container handling, the return trip to the check gate was also autonomous, and beyond the terminal area, the driver from Jakob Weets e.K. took full control again.

Practical Tests Outside Closed Areas

Sebastian Völl, project manager Hamburg TruckPilot at MAN Truck & Bus, is very satisfied with the results of the practical test in the Port of Hamburg, “Hamburg TruckPilot was an important milestone on our way to autonomous driving. When our prototype first autonomously maneuvered into a block storage lane, we saw: It works, we can meet the high accuracy requirements. And driving across the terminal area with many other manually driven trucks was perfectly mastered by the sensors, environment recognition, and automation systems working together. When the first container with real cargo was lifted off the chassis during the practical trials, I was proud of the entire team! We can build on these experiences for future projects.”
Furthermore, the partners have already gathered valuable data regarding autonomous driving between various logistics hubs in hub-to-hub traffic on the manual feeder trips on the A7 between the Weets Container Terminal Soltau and the port area 70 kilometers away. Future projects with practical trials on public roads will also benefit from this. Such practical tests, always accompanied by safety drivers, are made possible by the law on autonomous driving in Germany, even outside closed areas.

Germany as an Innovation Driver

As the first country ever, the Federal Republic enacted a law on autonomous driving in July 2021. This law regulates and generally permits the use of autonomous vehicles in designated operational areas, such as traffic between logistics terminals. A technical supervision must also monitor the trips.
For freight transport, autonomous trucks bring a whole range of advantages. They have the potential to make transport more efficient, cost-effective, reliable, sustainable, and above all, safer. For container logistics 4.0 and Industry 4.0, self-driving trucks represent an important element. They are also a solution to the driver shortage that is increasingly affecting many transport companies.

Outlook on the Future of Freight Transport

To advance automation, MAN plans to gradually launch further cooperation projects for the development of autonomous hub-to-hub traffic. Starting in the middle of the decade, initial application tests of self-driving MAN trucks, integrated into the operational processes of customer companies, are conceivable. The goal is to realize autonomous driving trucks as series solutions from 2030 onwards. Combined with emission-free drives, these not only have the potential to increase the safety and efficiency of logistics but also to make a significant contribution to CO₂-minimized freight transport.
Photo: © HHLA / Image Caption: (l. to r.): Jakob Weets, Managing Director of Spedition Weets, HHLA Chairwoman Angela Titzrath, and MAN Truck & Bus Senior Vice President – Head of Automation Mikael Edstam