Industrial Vehicle Technology - June 2020
SAFE PAIR OF HANDS
Roberth Jonsson 2020-07-10 07:31:55
Covid future
WILL THERE BE MORE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES POST-PANDEMIC?
► Like so many others these days I have been thinking a lot about how Covid-19 will affect my business and I ended up bouncing ideas (off myself of course) on how the development of the autonomous off-highway machinery business will be affected. What will happen once the dust has settled? Nobody knows, but it is not a stretch to imagine that we will be facing significant unemployment, with people eager to take almost any job. The civil engineering business is unlikely to come to a halt as governments and other state-run organisations will throw all efforts at keeping the wheels of our economies turning. In other words, there will probably be a great need for people in this area. The problem is that we cannot just place an untrained person in an excavator and expect them to start working. This person needs a lot of time to learn the craft and handle the machine safely. Could autonomy help here?
One reasons for using semi-autonomous functions is that they make it easier to perform tasks that usually require extensive experience to perform professionally, like grading a slope. Semi-autonomy could mean that with adequate basic and safety training inexperienced drivers could start working effectively as machine operators sooner rather than later – which would actually help get people into work faster.
The trend over the last few decades has been to move production to low-cost countries in order to keep costs down. Will Covid-19 change this? I believe so. I think people and countries have received a rude awakening to the fact that we in the EU are highly dependent on other non-EU countries’ production capacity, and this is no different in the world of off-highway machinery. In general, people are likely to buy more locally produced products, and ‘Made in the EU’ or ‘Made in Sweden’ will be a stamp of quality that will influence buying decisions. What does this mean in terms of production of machinery? Probably more automation in production.
While the argument for locally produced goods will carry weight, cost will always be a factor. How do we in the EU compete with low-cost countries? By increasing efficiency and introducing more automation in production lines. Will this help in getting people into work? Yes, certainly.
At present all we can grasp is that none of us really knows what the outcome of this period will be. I think (and hope) that autonomy, or semiautonomy, will get a boost in off-highway machinery, as will automation in industrial applications, post-coronavirus. Countries will recognise the value of producing locally and will also invest heavily in new and proven technologies to make this happen.
Autonomous machinery will most certainly be part of any future scenario, the only question is: how fast and to what extent?
Roberth Jonsson is a consultant in functional safety for mobile machinery. Contact: Roberth.jonsson@zatisfy.se or www.zatisfy.se/ivt
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SAFE PAIR OF HANDS
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