Driverless Truck Is Tested in São Paulo

08/13/2015 - 09h42

"Bon voyage!" says a female voice, sounding similar to a conventional GPS.

"Obstacle detected!" the voice announces. Diligently, the nine-ton truck starts the engine or brakes gently -without the need of any human intervention.

The experience aboard this machine, which was created in a partnership between the University of São Paulo in São Carlos and Scania - a Swedish manufacturer of commercial vehicles - is a strange, but apparently safe experience.

The goal is to create a commercially viable autonomous truck, which increases the safety and reliability of cargo transportation. The project cost R$ 1.2 million (US$345.000).

It's not the first time that Denis Wolf and colleagues at the ICMC (Institute of Mathematics and Computer Sciences) create robotic vehicles –the group has also designed an autonomous car.

The experiment has led to more sophisticated mathematical models to control Scania, whose size was a challenge.

"In addition, in the case of truck, commercial viability was prioritized, which led us to relatively inexpensive sensors," explains.

The truck has a radar, a high-precision GPS and cameras that give it an almost human "vision".

For now, tests take place on the university campus -at a cautious speed of 20 km/h.

Tests without drivers have been authorized to take place on public roads in the UK, France and Switzerland -not to mention in Brazil, where Wolf has put his car with robotic control out in the streets of São Carlos.

Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA

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	Divulgação
	The truck has a radar, a high-precision GPS and cameras that give it an almost human "vision"