As part of the AutoLog project, Volkswagen Group Logistics is working with its partners Unikie, Telekom, and BIBA (Institute for Production and Logistics at the University of Bremen) to test automated driving in the port of Emden.

The AutoLog project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and involves testing how automated vehicle movements can help make processes at car terminals and logistics sites more efficient, safer, and more environmentally friendly, as well as counteracting the increasing shortage of skilled workers. A test field has been set up specifically for this purpose in the outer harbor of Emden. There, new logistics concepts based on driverless vehicle movements are being tested in a real-world environment with the help of AI-supported control software.

“The difference to autonomous driving is that the necessary technology and sensors are not built into the cars, but are provided externally by the overall system consisting of LiDAR sensors, whose masts look like futuristic antennas, and the control software. AutoLog relies on the existing public 5G mobile network, which has been optimized with additional functions for automated driving,” says Autoport GmbH Managing Director Manfred de Vries.

The test area on the terminal grounds in the outer harbor has a direct connection to the Volkswagen plant in Emden and includes several roads and a busy roundabout. One of the major challenges is to safely manage automated and manually controlled vehicles as well as pedestrian movements at the same time.

LiDAR sensors capture data point clouds of the surrounding area, mapping all moving and stationary objects such as people, vehicles, and objects with maximum accuracy. The sensors can capture data day and night, even in poor weather conditions. Communication with the vehicles takes place via the public 5G network with maximum security in the test field.

According to de Vries, who is also deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Emder Hafenförderungsgesellschaft e. V., it is expected that the need for storage space will be reduced by up to 20 percent through warehouse consolidation and that the number of kilometers driven at the terminal will be reduced by approximately the same amount. “Fewer vehicle movements mean lower CO2 emissions and energy consumption,” says de Vries.

According to de Vries, Volkswagen Group Logistics ships around 2.4 million vehicles annually via more than 40 ports worldwide. “The largest port in this network is the seaport of Emden,” explained Dirk Krauß, managing director of EVAG (Emder Verkehrs und Automotive Gesellschaft mbH), to the members of the CDU state parliamentary group's “Ports and Shipping” working group, which, chaired by Hartmut Moorkamp, member of the state parliament, took a tour of the port of Emden and learned about the future project at the mouth of the Ems. Moorkamp is convinced that innovations of this kind will prevail in car transport sooner or later. De Vries and Krauß agree: “If we don't do it, other ports will.”