Road roller without cab
In September 2020, Liugong launched an intelligent driverless roller 6626E. This is a new member of Liugong’s many intelligent equipment, but what is different about it is that this time Liugong has thrown away the cab. .
Construction machinery is somewhat different from passenger cars. Generally, only the driver is in the cab. Since it is driverless, the cab is simply eliminated.
This cab-less road roller can replace labor and can operate continuously around the clock to maximize user benefits; it can automatically avoid obstacles, automatically plan paths, automatically change lanes, and monitor compaction in real time; it can realize intelligent control of compaction, with high quality and efficiency.
LiuGong is not the first to use a cab-less roller. XCMG also demonstrated its cab-less roller earlier this year.
Machinery Finance believes that if autonomous driving is to be promoted in the field of construction machinery, road rollers are the most promising and relatively simple model.
First of all, the road roller works in a single way. It travels in a straight line under rated power most of the time. The flow and pressure of hydraulic systems such as hydraulic vibration motors and traveling motors are also stable at a certain value.
Secondly, the working conditions are simple, the road surface is smooth and barrier-free, and it can ultimately rely on planning and management to prevent other vehicles and people from entering. This reduces various obstacles in the operation of the roller.
The work is single and the working conditions are simple, which makes the unmanned driving system of the road roller extremely simple. It does not need to add a panoramic camera and only uses millimeter wave radar to monitor road conditions. Even in working conditions such as highway construction, through Off-site control prevents people and vehicles from entering, so driverless driving only needs to plan a path for the roller and then let it run at full speed.
In short, the control and management system of driverless rollers can be relatively simple. Cab-free heavy trucks. In addition to the construction machinery field, driverless driving has been so complete that even the cab has been cancelled. Several companies in the heavy-duty truck field have also launched cab-less trucks.
In April 2017, FAW Jiefang officially released the “Zhitu” commercial vehicle strategy and completed the actual field test of an intelligent driving commercial vehicle for the first time, attracting widespread attention in the industry. In October 2017, an L3-level smart truck was successfully tested on a highway. This was the first intelligent driving function test of a Chinese commercial vehicle in a highway environment.
This heavy-duty truck without a cab from FAW is more like an automatic logistics vehicle. It has completely revolutionized the original appearance of trucks, although it has only been conceptually tested in places with single road conditions such as ports. But it has also taken an important step towards autonomous driving.
On September 24, 2019, Scania officially released the new driverless truck AXL. This fully autonomous concept truck was developed for mines and large enclosed construction sites. This concept truck has no cab.
As a milestone in Scania’s development of heavy-duty driverless trucks, Scania looks domineering even without a cab.
Scania’s driverless car and FAW’s cabless car design concepts are very different. AXL retains almost all system assemblies except the cab, and only implements automatic control in operation. In fact, it can be clearly seen from the picture that the chassis of Scania AXL driverless truck is still derived from an ordinary dump truck. The front double steering axle uses a drum brake axle, and the rear double drive axle uses a Scania wheel reduction axle.
When it comes to cab-less heavy trucks, we have to mention Sweden’s EINRIDE Technology Company.
EINRIDE has launched the first mass-produced driverless truck, and this vehicle has now obtained Sweden’s driverless road license, which means that this truck can easily achieve complete driverless driving.
EINRIDE’s cabless heavy-duty truck is simply the Tesla of heavy-duty trucks. It is here to disrupt the field of heavy-duty trucks. Regardless of its appearance or driverless technology, it directly subverts people’s perception of heavy-duty trucks. Although the current level of driverless driving has not completely eliminated humans, Einride’s T-Pod electric driverless truck has reached the L4 level of driverless driving, which is the second highest level after L5. Currently, it can finally rely on Operators miles away can monitor and control up to 10 trucks.
Swedish truck maker Volvo Trucks has also launched its cab-less heavy-duty truck Vera, a driverless truck that will operate in restricted areas such as ports and warehouse areas to transport heavy loads along fixed routes.
Mechanical Finance Comments: These driverless heavy trucks are all used in restricted areas to achieve point-to-point logistics transportation. The selected areas are also places with the simplest road conditions and working conditions. For example, Scania heavy trucks are used in designated areas in mining areas. On the route, the Einride drives on a public road in an industrial area in Jönköping in central Sweden, and the speed is also restricted. The Volvo operates on fixed routes in restricted areas such as ports and warehouse areas.
However, we have to see that autonomous driving technology can also completely eliminate cabs in the field of heavy trucks, retaining only the carrying function of heavy trucks.
Unmanned Cab Tractor Machinery Finance introduced a tractor independently developed by my country in the article “Beidou 5G Unmanned Hydrogen Fuel Cell Big Data, Tractors Can Be Upgraded”.
In order to realize the unmanned driving function, ET504-H uses advanced technologies such as mushroom head GPS antenna, millimeter wave radar, and big data cloud platform. The operator can plan a route on the tablet, and the ET504-H can run along the line. If it encounters an obstacle in front, it will actively whistle and slow down to avoid obstacles. No human intervention is required throughout the process. This tractor was initiated by the National Agricultural Machinery Equipment Innovation Center. , the tractor jointly built by the Luoyang Advanced Manufacturing Industry R&D Base of Tianjin High-end Equipment Research Institute of Tsinghua University uses the most cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, driverless driving, Beidou navigation, and hydrogen fuel cells. It is really a change from the old and stupid agricultural machinery. The earthy temperament has also pushed tractors to the forefront of science and technology.
Postscript When everyone is focusing on driverless technology for passenger cars, construction machinery, heavy trucks, and agricultural machinery are also secretly making efforts not to hold back on driverless roads. And Machinery Finance believes that compared with passenger cars, engineering machinery It may be easier to popularize unmanned driving in the fields of machinery, heavy trucks, and agricultural machinery.
First, working conditions. Engineering machinery, heavy trucks, and agricultural machinery can all find some exceptionally simple operating conditions and equipment, which reduces the difficulty of driverless technology, reduces safety risks, and makes it easier to develop driverless technology.
Secondly, demand. Engineering machinery, heavy trucks, and agricultural machinery can all find some large customers who have a relatively large demand for de-manualization, such as ports, mines, and large farms. They have a relatively large willingness to popularize unmanned operations.
Finally, special harsh environments. The high dust in mines, the stench of high-speed asphalt, and the dust and debris on farms are harsh environments, and are also mixed with potential safety risks. Many drivers no longer like to work in such an environment, which brings more problems to autonomous driving. boost.
In summary, because construction machinery, heavy trucks, and agricultural machinery have some special working conditions and needs, and there is an objective and subjective willingness to popularize driverless technology, these fields may be the most thorough application areas for driverless driving.