AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

• GERMANY TRUCK - TECH The truck of the nineties is likely

22nd November 1986
Page 24
Page 24, 22nd November 1986 — • GERMANY TRUCK - TECH The truck of the nineties is likely
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

to be 'computer-controlled' if West German research in this field is anything to go by. Both German vehicle manufacturers and electronics companies such as Siemens and the Dutch firm Philips are experimenting with guided tracking systems for trucks, controlled by computers on board the vehicles.

A computer-assisted tracking system is not really much different from the kind of system which has been used in aircraft and ships for some time and in trucks it measures the route by sensors installed on the non-driving wheels. (In an antiblocking system, such sensors are already present.) These work out the direction of the vehicle from various mathematical data and by using magnetic field probes which are oriented according to the earth's magnetic field.

This system is known as 'Eva', but there are several others including 'CarPilot' and 'Scout' which work on a similar principle. They can store street plans on compact disks, but in order to store on disks the whole West German road network, one would need about 60 million bytes.

In order to offset the residual errors which can arise with 'dead-reckoning' navigation, an on-board support system known as 'Ali' has been developed and tested. A field study with an improved version is to be conducted in Berlin on 400 test vehicles in 1987-1988.

The Germans are also experimenting with Bosch telex systems such as Tote' (messenger') for use in trucks. Verkehrs-Rundschau, October 25

Tags

Locations: Berlin

comments powered by Disqus