Volvo Trucks field tests the driverless truck with an autonomous FMX three-axled vehicle.
This FMX won’t see the sun for a long time. Like a modern pit pony, the three-axled Volvo-Kipper works 1,000 meters under the ground in a Swedish ore mine. Neither vehicle nor driver complain about their lot – because on board this all-terrain truck sits only an on-board computer. In cooperation with radar sensors built all around the vehicle, the computer in the cab independently operates the course of the 26-ton truck through the narrow mine shafts, unloads and returns to the loading station.
More precision and nonstop use
Advantage of the first field-tested, autonomously driven truck isn’t only the precision with which the innovative vehicle moves around. Apart from short service breaks, for example to refuel, the autonomous FMX is able to work below ground for 24 hours. It isn’t yet defined when the technology will be ready for series production for application in normal street traffic.
