1st ICAI 2020

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2020

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

Concept of Autonomous Electric Modular Platform for Transport of Freight and Equipment Josef Břoušek 1 , Jakub Ježek 2 , Tomáš Petr 3 , Robert Voženílek 4 ,

Pavel Němeček 5 , Lukáš Krčmář 6 Technical University of Liberec 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technology and Innovation, Department of Vehicles and Engines 1, 2, 3, 4 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Vehicles and Engines 5 Faculty of Mechatronics, Institute of Mechatronics and Computer Engineering 6 Studentská 1402/2, Liberec 1, 461 17 Czech Republic e-mail: j osef.brousek@tul.cz 1 , jakub.jezek@tul.cz 2 , tomas.petr@tul.cz 3 , robert.vozenilek@tul.cz 4 , pavel.nemecek@tul.cz 5 , lukas.krcmar@tul.cz 6 Abstract This paper presents the concept of an autonomous electric modular platform for the transport of freight and equipment. It contains a survey of current research and development in the area concepts of specialized vehicles for the transport of freight and equipment. The survey shows that these specialized vehicles are a topical issue for the near future and we expect further development in this area for bringing them into real operation. Their technical possibilities and application areas are described. The second part of the paper is devoted to the development of the autonomous electric modular platform at the Technical University of Liberec. The development of the drivetrain, chassis and battery is shown. The platform is developed as a battery-electric vehicle with modular design and autonomous capabilities. Keywords: autonomous vehicle, battery electric vehicle, modular platform JEL Classification: Q42, R41, R49 1. Introduction The subjects of this article are specialized vehicles for the transport of freight and equipment. This issue or its parts are addressed in the fields of mobile robotics, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics. These special autonomous vehicles are often cited as automated guided vehicles (AGV), self-driving vehicles, robotic utility vehicle (RUV), autonomous shipping and delivery robots, ground drones, agrorobots, autonomous load carriers. Autonomous specialized platforms bring the opportunity to perform complex logistical tasks and scenarios (Bacik et al., 2017) (Jandura, Černohorský and Richter, 2016). The technical capabilities of specialized platforms are very wide. We assume that further capabilities will continue to increase in this field with subsequent research and development. The current offer of these vehicles allows their deployment in many places. The main capability is the possibility of simple autonomous freight transport.

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