Floow

Autonomous cargo systems in factory transport

The FLOOW research project aims to develop new solutions for the mobility of people and transported goods with a focus on factory transport.

MOTIVATION

The trend towards urbanisation has been continuing worldwide for decades. More than a third of the population now lives in densely populated regions, which means that living and parking space is becoming increasingly scarce. Commuter flows and inner-city traffic are leading to massive congestion of the infrastructure and a shortage of transport space. What is needed is an alternative to journeys by private motorised transport that can compete with the comfort of owner-occupied cars, while at the same time significantly reducing the need for vehicles and the amount of space used per vehicle. The aim of the FLOOW joint project is to close this gap and demonstrate it on a closed test site.

SOLUTION APPROACH

The FLOOW project utilises the key advantages of artificial intelligence (AI) to create new solutions for the mobility of people and goods. These relate in particular to the robust and highly accurate localisation of mobility systems (indoor and outdoor), generalised environment recognition and risk-aware manoeuvre planning on dedicated hardware for the energy-efficient solution of complex sub-problems on vehicles. This addresses indoor and outdoor use as well as combined use with transition between the two areas. An automated guided vehicle system (AGV), an automated cargo bike and a cargo mover serve as exemplary vehicle platforms. The final integration of the prototypes into an overall mobility system with intelligent fleet utilisation on a factory site represents an exemplary implementation for urban use when ready for the market.