Proposal of Methodology to Calculate Necessary Number of Autonomous Trucks for Trolleys and Efficiency Evaluation

Abstract

The introduction of the paper highlights best practice in the area of deploying autonomous trucks in warehouses and the automotive industry, including the current technical possibilities of selected autonomous trucks. The next chapter presents the selected outputs of the scientific project “Center of Excellence for Intelligent Transport Systems” focused on a proposal of the methodology for calculating the necessary number of autonomous trucks and trolleys deployed in logistics warehouses. The methodology is based on the requirement that autonomous trucks do not have downtime. This represents a model solution with possible application in warehouse logistics but also in the automotive industry. The follow-up chapter proposes a methodological procedure to evaluate the efficiency of introducing autonomous trucks to pull trolleys in a logistics warehouse compared to conventional trucks operated by trained personnel. Autonomous trucks can theoretically be operated 365 days and 24 hours depending on the technology of their operation, battery charging, etc. On the other hand, there is generally a shortage of logistics personnel in the European Union as well as reliability and performance have been declining in recent years. The conclusion of the paper includes a discussion of the research results obtained and possibilities for future research.

Keywords

• autonomous vehicles
• technology
• efficiency
• logistics