VISTA is concluded
After a four-year research period, the Interreg VISTA project officially concluded in June 2023 with a presentation of the tool at Visser Transport in Duiven and at the HAN Automotive Research building on the HAN Campus in Arnhem.
All information about the project can be found on the special VISTA website.
Goal of VISTA
Reversing truck-trailer combinations can be challenging, especially when it comes to multi-articulated vehicles.
Logistics companies face significant damage caused by vehicle combinations that are “docking”: reversing the vehicle against a dock door to load and unload goods.
VISTA stands for Vision Supported Truck Docking Assistant. The aim of VISTA is to support truck drivers when manoeuvring vehicle combinations to dock doors at logistics sites.
The core of the VISTA solution is the precise optical localisation of trucks and trailers. To achieve this, cameras are installed at the distribution centre.
Based on this location, an optimal, feasible route is calculated. The driver then receives information via an intuitive user interface to enable them to follow this route correctly. The driver is given the user interface upon arrival at the distribution centre.
Project approach
VISTA does not require any fixed instrumentation in the truck. This means that the solution can be adapted to suit all existing trucks. The costs of VISTA, both CAPEX and OPEX, are low thanks to the use of camera technology and its seamless integration into existing processes at distribution centres.
Vista overview
VISTA aims to demonstrate the solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7. This means that the solution will be demonstrated in real life, in a complex, practical environment. If the demonstration is successful, commercial parties will bring the solution to market.
Contact V-tron:
Results achieved
1 July 2022:
During the 15th International Symposium on Advanced Vehicle Control (AVEC) in Kanagawa, Japan, a paper will be presented on the development of Model Predictive Control-based driver assistance as developed in VISTA. The full paper was recently submitted following acceptance of the extended abstract. Following its successful reuse in the EU Horizon 5G Blueprint project, the paper now covers both applications.
17 November 2021:
A test session took place in the VISTA VR simulator at the Arnhem and Nijmegen University of Applied Sciences. The drivers performed truck docking manoeuvres in the virtual world presented to them through VR glasses. They drove both manually and with the help of VISTA and provided valuable feedback on various aspects of VISTA, such as route planning, feedback based on the road follower and the various HMI elements.
30 September 2021:
The first promising results have been presented for the camera-based VISTA Real-Time Localisation System (RTLS). The AI algorithms were trained using data from the cameras installed at DC Visser. This data was first annotated to make it usable for training purposes. The RTLS results are highly comparable to the RTK-DGPS reference data recorded in July.
Challenges
The following VISTA work packages must be carried out:
- Business potential analysis
- Vision-based RTFs
- Vehicle planning & control
- Human Machine Interface
- Integration
V-tron is the leader of work package 5. This work package integrates all elements of work packages 2, 3 and 4.
Two important integration environments are used. First, a scale model setup in the HAN lab, based on scaled trucks/trailers, so that most integration aspects can be tested on a reproducible, low-cost setup that is always available.
The final setup will be a real-life environment at one or two distribution centres. In this environment, the integrated solution will be tested and demonstrated at TRL7 level.
Project partners:
Co-funded by the European Union through the INTERREG programme Deutschland-Nederland, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Province of Gelderland.
V-tron employees involved:
