Autonomous vehicle technology is being adapted for use in everything from container ships to tankers. Engineers are also equipping other types of commercial vessels, including ferries, tugboats and warships, with state-of-the-art navigation systems that can be safely used in harbors and on lakes, rivers and oceans.
Autonomous cars and trucks are still in development and years away from real-world deployment. However, many types of off-road vehicles are already emerging for daily use in agriculture, construction, mining, port logistics and other applications.
Autonomous off-highway vehicles are a growing presence around the globe, from Norwegian mines to Brazilian sugar cane fields, and while limited access sites foster more controllable environments, rough and tumble usage raises a host of other challenges.
While the trend of autonomous driving is also catching on in off-highway vehicles, the use cases are very different compared to on-road vehicles where the main purpose is to move from Point A to Point B on their own with help of onboard sensors and systems.
The companies building tomorrow’s autonomous vehicle sensors are looking to go beyond current radar and camera limitations to identify obstacles and eliminate car crashes, greatly improving the safety of automated driving systems.
The most important criterion for autonomous vehicles is safety. To ensure this, a completely safe perception of the surrounding environment must be the first step.