Autonomous Trailer Interchange Zone With Gated AV-OTR Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The coordination between autonomous vehicle yard trucks (AV yard trucks) and over-the-road (OTR) trucks in a yard environment is challenging, often requiring human intervention and posing risks of collisions due to uncontrolled exchange environments for trailers.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing an Interchange Zone (IZ) with predetermined boundary structures and a management process that controls gate openings and closings using sensors and communication links to isolate and direct trailer handling between AV yard trucks and OTR trucks, ensuring safe and efficient interchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If AV yard trucks and OTR trucks operate freely in the yard environment, then operational flexibility and efficiency are improved, but collision risk and safety hazards increase
Solution Approach 1:
The yard environment is segmented into distinct operational zones: an Interchange Zone (IZ) for trailer exchanges and a Standby Zone for waiting vehicles. This spatial segmentation allows AV yard trucks and OTR trucks to operate simultaneously without collision by assigning them to different zones at different times, thus maintaining operational efficiency while eliminating collision risks.
Solution Approach 2:
A management process acts as an intermediary between AV yard trucks and OTR trucks, coordinating their movements and controlling access to the Interchange Zone. The management process receives requests from both vehicle types, determines safe exchange sequences, and issues directional commands, thereby enabling efficient operations while preventing collisions through centralized mediation.
2Reliability
If human intervention is used to coordinate AV yard trucks and OTR trucks, then safety can be maintained, but operational complexity and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service automation where AV yard trucks and OTR trucks autonomously communicate their positions, speeds, and intended actions to the management process. The management process automatically processes this information, determines safe exchange sequences, and issues directional commands without human intervention. This maintains high safety through automated monitoring while reducing operational complexity by eliminating manual coordination tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The management process continuously receives feedback from vehicles regarding their status, position, and environmental conditions. Based on this real-time feedback, the system dynamically adjusts exchange sequences and directional commands to maintain safety while optimizing operational efficiency. The feedback loop enables automated decision-making that reduces coordination complexity compared to manual human intervention.
3Reliability
If an Interchange Zone with multiple gates is implemented, then safety and collision prevention are improved, but system complexity and infrastructure requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The Interchange Zone is segmented with multiple gated entrances and exits rather than a single open access point. This segmentation allows the management process to control vehicle flow through specific gates based on exchange sequences, preventing collisions by ensuring only one vehicle type enters the zone at a time. The gated segmentation maintains high safety while the automated management process keeps operational complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The management process serves multiple functions: it coordinates trailer exchanges, controls gate operations, monitors vehicle positions, and issues directional commands. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional system, the patent reduces overall system complexity compared to having separate dedicated systems for each function, while maintaining the safety benefits of the gated Interchange Zone infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
This provides a system and method for handling the interchange of trailers between an over the road (OTR) truck and an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck in a facility yard includes an interchange zone (IZ) that is bounded by a predetermined boundary structure, having an OTR entry gate and an OTR exit gate on a first side and an AV entry gate and an AV exit gate on a second side. The system and method further includes a management process that selectively opens and closes each of the OTR entry gate, the OTR exit gate, the AV entry gate and the AV exit gate according to a predetermined set of rules.