Volvo Construction Equipment demonstrated its prototype autonomous wheel loader and articulated hauler working together at the company’s Xploration Forum in Eskilstuna, Sweden.
 Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) presented an exclusive demo of its prototype autonomous wheel loader and articulated hauler working together at the company’s Xploration Forum, held between September 9th-14th in Eskilstuna, Sweden.
 The prototype wheel loader filled the prototype articulated hauler – before dumping its load and repeating the cycle. In a one-hour comparison it was found that the autonomous wheel loader could reach the equivalent of 70 per cent of that of a skilled operator’s productivity levels when loading and unloading. This is not just theoretical, the machine has also done ‘real work’ for a Volvo CE customer at an asphalt plant in Sweden, the company said.
 “The demonstration machines were programmed to work together and carry out a specific set of actions on a pre-defined route,” explains Jenny Elfsberg, director of emerging technologies at Volvo CE. “The machines can perform the same task over and over again, along a fixed route, for a relatively long period of time. But it’s still early days for this technology, we are working on developing solutions that have the required safety and performance levels that the market will accept.”
 “There is still a long way to go so there are no plans for industrialisation at this stage,” she continues. “Currently these prototype machines don’t communicate with each other and machine-to-machine communication technology – where machines ‘talk’ to one another and to a central control point – is crucial when it comes to avoiding collisions and facilitating an efficient flow of equipment.”
 The demonstrator machines that were unveiled to customers, members of the international press, government representatives and academics at the Xploration Forum, are standard Volvo products – a L120 wheel loader and an A25F articulated hauler – which have been upgraded with autonomous technology. Once a solution is finalised, this technology could be applied to other products in Volvo CE’s range.