Westwell Creates World's First AI Container Truck in China
The Chinese tech start-up has led to the creation of the world's first artificially intelligent (AI) container truck
SHANGHAI, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Westwell recently developed a driverless container truck, introduced in China's Zhuhai Port, in January. Adopting the latest artificial intelligence applications, it is a self-driving vehicle in a port environment.
Artificial intelligence is changing the world of container shipping. It is estimated that there are over a thousand overseas container terminals and that many of these call for cutting-edge technology, such as driverless vehicles, more than automation.
Westwell's driverless container trucks can help logistics companies and terminals improve work efficiency and save labor cost by more than 50%, according to industry watchers.
Compared to regular self-driving vehicles, the Westwell driverless container trucks are quicker to adapt to the port environment, make decisions and alternate controls.
The horizontal transportation of containers in ports is busy and complex, which will result in more transitions of route plans for self-driving vehicles. At the same time, there is a lot of metal equipment disturbing GPS signals. All of this amounts to difficulties for other driverless container trucks in such an environment.
The AI elements of Westwell's driverless trucks give them the ability to perform multiple tasks in this type of environment, such as navigating, avoiding obstacles and planning the optimal route for transportation of containers.
Besides the driverless container truck, Westwell also collaborated with a multinational engineering giant, ZPMC, in developing AI straddle carriers in November 2017. ZPMC reported that the AI straddle carrier can automatically avoid obstacles, slow down, brake and make other smart decisions in case of emergency situations.
Westwell has been exploring the combination of AI and port technology. Since 2015, they have provided the plans for container number recognition system, WellOcean, in terminals all over China. The team is committed to making a holistic AI solution for unmanned operation in terminals around the world.
Featured Product
3D Vision: Ensenso B now also available as a mono version!
This compact 3D camera series combines a very short working distance, a large field of view and a high depth of field - perfect for bin picking applications. With its ability to capture multiple objects over a large area, it can help robots empty containers more efficiently. Now available from IDS Imaging Development Systems. In the color version of the Ensenso B, the stereo system is equipped with two RGB image sensors. This saves additional sensors and reduces installation space and hardware costs. Now, you can also choose your model to be equipped with two 5 MP mono sensors, achieving impressively high spatial precision. With enhanced sharpness and accuracy, you can tackle applications where absolute precision is essential. The great strength of the Ensenso B lies in the very precise detection of objects at close range. It offers a wide field of view and an impressively high depth of field. This means that the area in which an object is in focus is unusually large. At a distance of 30 centimetres between the camera and the object, the Z-accuracy is approx. 0.1 millimetres. The maximum working distance is 2 meters. This 3D camera series complies with protection class IP65/67 and is ideal for use in industrial environments.
