Herøya Industrial Park is at the forefront of testing the future autonomous transport solutions. The industrial park has now been chosen as Living Lab, a living test area, in the EU's large-scale NOK 50 million investment, Orchestra2020. The goal is to realize the smart digital and green intermodal transport solutions of the future.
Testing in operational Entrance Gate
Important test operations to automate freight transport in practice will be carried out in a fully operational Entrance Gate at Herøya over the next three years. A robotic escort and a digital traffic system that will handle freight transport safely in and out will be implemented.
"Testing a new digital traffic system, connected to an autonomous pilot vehicle in an operational Entrance Gate, is unique", the test team emphasizes. "It is easier and safer to implement here in a closed area, rather than an open area that has several risk factors".
Make it work in practice
Participation and input from those who will use the service such as the operators at the Entrance Gate, transporters and customers, are an important part of the planned test operations.
"In addition, we have access to research environments nearby", Skjalg Aasland states. "This is a field that needs research and development to improve the solutions while we test".
"This is important, because we want to make this work in practice", the team says enthusiastically.
The key to success is collaboration
ITS Norway is in the driver's seat at Orchestra2020, and brings together four Norwegian players, SINTEF, Applied Autonomy, Herøya Industripark AS, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in addition to ten international players. The collaboration will help to realize future intermodal transport solutions, where it is easy to coordinate and synchronize traffic management of many different autonomous transport solutions by road, rail, water and air.
Management system for the entire industrial park
Tove Sørensen from Bouvet, who also led the work of creating a roadmap for an autonomous industrial park, is now leading the fully funded test project at Herøya, that runs until 2024. 
"We are part of many work packages in Orchestra together with different participants during the period", Sørensen says. "We are now preparing to assess management systems for the entire industrial park. In parallel, work is now also being done on rolling out robotic lawnmowers and we are looking for possible sweeping vehicles that are planned for rolling out in the industrial park this coming autumn".
Strategically invests in digital infrastructure
"Using a robot on wheels to escort goods transport is not only a unique test project at Herøya, but a strategic investment", says Skjalg Aasland and Tone Rabe.
"Participation in Orchestra2020 opens up opportunities for us to establish new digital infrastructure with a traffic system where more autonomous machines and vehicles can be connected", they point out. "We have a developed infrastructure for electricity, cooling water, roads and expertise. We are now building digital infrastructure, absolutely necessary for the future and the companies' competitiveness".
A fleet system for future logistics
Aasland envisions an overarching system, a kind of fleet system, where the industrial park owner provides digital roads necessary for operating industrial logistics.
"We can load on lawnmowers, sweepers and now the escort robot testing project on to the digital system adapted to industrial use. We also work on integrating warehousing and the logistics part related to railways into such a system", he explains.
Knowledge also value for society
"Our goal is to become an autonomous industrial park in ten years. The knowledge we develop through test operations here at Herøya could also be adopted by cities and communities and have great value for the digitally controlled transport solutions of the future, both in Norway and Europe", says Aasland.
Also read:
The EU-project Orchestra2020. Coordinating and synchronising multimodal transport improving road, rail, water and air transport through increased automation and user involvement | ORCHESTRA Project | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu)
The government will investigate the potential for new technological solutions through the use of experiments and pilots. See Reforming the Transport Sector.
21. July 2021
