KAMAZ unmanned truck roars into action 

Zyfra in partnership with Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan) and KAMAZ, Monday, announced the completion of  a major international project aimed at developing an autonomous truck tractor based on the KAMAZ-5490 Neo.

The development of robots for the load carrying class of vehicles, according to a statement issued in Moscow, Russia and made available to AUTO REPORT AFRICA in Lagos,  will allow them to be used for the transportation of goods within industrial facilities.

It will also facilitate the implementation of complex programmes on digitalisation.

The statement said the project was divided into two stages, stressing that in the first stage, Zyfra partially reequipped a motor vehicle and enabled it to move autonomously.

The vehicle was equipped with a complex system for autonomous motion. For safety purposes and to ensure that it could scan the environment, the vehicle was equipped with lidars, radars and positioning systems.

“For Zyfra, the truck tractor is a new unmanned platform that enhances our competencies in the field of robotic technology.

“Industrial enterprises are increasingly interested in unmanned transportation, which allows us to propose more complex digitisation solutions”, the statement quoted  Pavel Rastopshin, Managing Director of Zyfra, as saying.

During the second stage, specialists from Nazarbayev University joined to further develop the unmanned truck on the testing site in Kazakhstan.

Developers from the University added a computer vision system to the vehicle’s functionality, which enables the truck to recognize various objects – people, animals, guard railings, road markings – and independently change the route when it comes into contact with such obstacles.

AUTO REPORT AFRICA recalls that in  September, Zyfra successfully tested first two autonomous mining dump trucks BELAZ-7513R with a lifting capacity of 130 tons.

The vehicles have since been deployed in the mines in Khakassia (Eastern Siberia), Russia. As part of the trials, a dump truck worked continuously for 24 hours, completing 500 process cycles, as well as moved along a designated 1,350 m section of the mine, carrying overburden rock.