Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI), Phantom Auto, FANUC America Corporation, and Terberg have collaborated to develop a new fully unmanned yard truck platform.

“The combination of these four leading companies brings an autonomy solution that has never been more needed in the logistics sector to lower costs and increase safety and efficiency,” says Mel Torrie, founder and CEO of ASI.

With ASI’s Mobius software, operators have real-time awareness and control of a fleet of unmanned trucks. Both of these capabilities are driven by ASI’s autonomous vehicle technology.

Phantom Auto’s remote communication layer provides a reliable link between the Mobius software and the trucks over any network, which facilitates monitoring, tele-assistance, and tele-driving. After an operator or management system gives the Mobius application its orders, the application plans a path for a truck to pick up and drop off a trailer, and sends the plan to the truck.

Equipped with automation-ready drive-by-wire electronic controls, the Terberg yard truck is driven to the trailer or dock by ASI software. Once at the location, a FANUC robotic arm uses proprietary technology to connect or disconnect the pneumatic brake line to the trailer, which makes it a truly end-to-end platform.

ASI’s unmanned yard truck platform ultimately increases its customers’ vehicle operational efficiency and operational design domains by making high-quality, real-time control possible across a wide range of geographic coverage areas.

The companies list the platform’s three main advantages as follows: it is “vehicle-agnostic, so customers can work with their existing fleet and preferred yard truck brand; hardware-agnostic and easy to integrate, so that customers can use the solution without overhauling their vehicle hardware architecture; and requires no modifications to trailers in order to obtain air line connections.”

“With our yard truck solution, we are proving once again that autonomy combined with remote operation can get unmanned vehicles deployed today,” comments Elliot Katz, co-founder of Phantom Auto.