IFOY Audit
Finalists undergo the three-stage IFOY Audit as part of the IFOY Audit, which takes place during the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS. This consists of the scientific IFOY Innovation Check, the IFOY Test and the jury test.
TractEasy
EasyMile
The TractEasay is an autonomous tow tractor for material handling operating indoor and outdoor, enabling automation of logistics processes with outdoor phases and maximum towing loads of 25t.
Product name and company
TractEasy – EasyMile
Category
Special of the Year
Description
EasyMile – a pioneer of autonomous technology for goods and passenger transportation – and TLD – world leader of Ground Support Equipment – partnered for over 2 years to develop a ground-breaking innovation. While EasyMile brought its state-of-the-art autonomous technology platform, TLD contributed with decades of experience in designing and manufacturing special vehicles and machines. TractEasy is the result of the EasyMile technology integration into the JET-16 electric tow tractor platform from TLD.
TractEasy is an autonomous tow tractor able to tow up to 25t of goods in outdoor environments, enabling more logistics processes to be automated, especially those going through outdoor environment. TractEasy is able to operate up to 24/7 in mixed traffic conditions on a private site. Its main use cases are to transport parts from one building to another (e.g. supplier delivery building to assembly line) for industrial applications as well as moving luggage from a terminal to a plane for airport applications.
Innovations
To date, there is no other product as mature as the TractEasy on the market. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) have flourished in the industry – especially the automotive sector – for decades now. From magnetic tape followers to map-based navigation, the autonomous technology for AGV has improved drastically over the years. However, AGVs are so far restricted to indoor environment, with very high constraints on floor quality. Furthermore, current AGV solutions on the market often face operation limitations, either by limited environmental conditions (such as temperature profile or humidity) or limited acceptable traffic diversity (such as cyclists, trucks and pedestrians). In opposition, the TractEasy is designed to cope with various environmental and traffic conditions, enlarging potential use cases over the level of current AGV solutions.
EasyMile experience in designing autonomous software for outdoor applications has long been proven with an extensive track record for the EZ10, one of the first autonomous shuttle for public transportation in the world. Bringing this autonomous platform into the TractEasy finally enable material handling operations indoor as well as outdoor, a revolution for the market.
Market relevance
TractEasy addresses two main macro-markets: airports and industries. On airports, luggage tractors represent currently about 5,000 units sold per year worldwide, with the biggest airports counting hundreds of those vehicles. Electrification is ongoing on this segment, representing currently about 15 percent and growing rapidly. Considering the air traffic growth prediction, the new airports and terminal to be build over the next 10 to 20 years as well as the Smart Airport movement initiated since a few years, TractEasy is deemed to succeed on this market.
On industries, TractEasy fits well processes with extended operational time, from 2 shifts per day and 5 days per week up to 24/7 operations. The automotive sector is at the forefront of automation adoption due to the high production volume as well as the high pressure on costs. Considering only the European Automotive OEMs market, over 200 established assembly factories create a potential market of about 10,000 to 20,000 units to be replaced over the next 5 to 10 years. TractEasy is not limited geographically and regions with high employment costs will be the first adopters of the autonomous technology. Automotive Tier 1, Aerospace, Defence, Packaging and Beverage are all potential sectors EasyMile is investigating and where the TractEasy solution would be a great fit for customer’s operations.
Customer benefits
A recent white paper from Sapio Research on Automation in intralogistics highlights the main key driver for automation is productivity (48 percent) followed by lower operational costs (42 percent). The TractEasy solution answers perfectly these market expectations. The ability to operate continuously with minimal human interactions makes the TractEasy a real benefit for customers. EasyMile estimates that from 2 shifts per day, 5 days per week, replacing a full logistics process with TractEasy vehicles would bring an ROI in about 2 years. Longer operations can bring down the ROI up to 1.2 years.
Besides increasing productivity and reducing operational costs, TractEasy also provides more flexibility both from a technical perspective with the ability to re-allocate easily the vehicle on another process when needed; and from a human resource management perspective with reduced handling of sickleave, vacations and training. Safety is also a great concern for customers and TractEasy autonomous technology ensures the highest level of Safety in all environments, for pedestrians, and other road users such as trucks, cars and bikes. Finally, TractEasy contributes to reducing some hidden costs such as the costs for losses and damages or the drivers training cost from today’s manned operations.
Test report
TractEasy is an autonomous electric tow tractor enabling automation of logistics processes. The driverless, zero-emission tractor has a towing capacity of 25 tons and can be used both indoors and outdoors thanks to its electric drive. It can drive up to 25 km/h.
Although the popularity of autonomous vehicles in intralogistics has increased rapidly in recent years, AGVs are not new. So far, however, their deployment has often been limited to within the four walls of the warehouse or the production environment. Moreover, they often have high demands on the quality of the floor.
TractEasy is suitable for indoor and outdoor and can operate in extended weather conditions: heavy rain, light snow and temperatures from -15°C till +35 °C. The tow tractor can safely drive in mixed traffic (cars, pedestrians, bikes), and can operate on uneven grounds thanks to its ground clearance. Also complex circumstances, for example when driving through gates or past traffic lights, are no problem for the TractEasy. In those cases, however, the obstacle must be equipped with an extra module for the system to communicate with. For the development of the tractor EasyMile partnered with TLD. EasyMile brought the autonomous technology platform, which is integrated into TLD’s JET-16 electric tow tractor platform.
The tow tractor is equipped with a full range of sensors – such as LIDARS, cameras, GPS, IMU, odometry – enabling safe and reliable navigation without a need for additional infrastructure.
During autonomous mode, the route learned by teach-in is constantly compared with the actual situation. The taught-in route can be optimized using the software developed by EasyMile. Using this software, speeds can also be easily adjusted. Even per zone or area.
The tractor features two safety zones. Firstly, the speed of the vehicle is gradually reduced to zero if an obstacle is identified within one metre of the sides or two to ten metres in front of the tractor (depending on the speed). If the obstacle is within a distance of 60 cm, the emergency brake is automatically applied and the tractor comes to an abrupt standstill.
In this case, an acoustic signal sounds. The same signal also sounds when the tractor starts an autonomous trip. This way the surroundings are alerted to the autonomous vehicle.
At the stops along the route, a preset stop time can be selected, or a stop until the truck is manually commanded to continue on the route again.
EasyMile estimates that when a complete logistic process is replaced with TractEasy vehicles, this results in a ROI of about two years for a two-shift operation on five days a week. With 24/7 operations, the ROI can even be reduced to 1.2 years, according to the manufacturer.
There is no comprehensive test protocol for this nomination, but during the IFOY demo, the solution convinces the test team of a safe and trouble-free autonomous operation. Changing routes requires some knowledge and time.
IFOY Test Verdict
By increasing productivity and reducing operational costs, TractEasy provides more flexibility. Both from a technical perspective with the ability to easily re-allocate the vehicle as well as from a human resource perspective with reduced handling of sickleave, vacations and training. Because the vehicle can be used indoors as well as outdoors, new doors open for autonomous transport in intralogistics.
IFOY Innovation Check
Market relevance
Internal transport has been automated for a long time. However, the outdoor area always presents itself as a challenge.
Customer benefits
Especially in the area of transport between company buildings, however, considerable savings can be achieved through automation due to the greater distances involved.
Novelty
The automated series vehicle TractEasy has taken up this challenge and achieved safe navigation in the outdoor area by means of the principle of sensor fusion (i.e. the simultaneous evaluation of a large number of different sensor signals and the joint use of the generated data).
Functionality / type of implementation
The result is impressive, although it cannot be clearly estimated whether the high investment costs can be compensated for by the savings (one driver less per x vehicles). However, the reliability and driving performance are excellent.
Conclusion
The vehicle incorporates innovative sensor technologies that have been optimally merged. The approach is very well thought out. In specific individual cases the system, which has been implemented extremely professionally, can be very helpful.
It is difficult to estimate the economic efficiency, as a lot of technological effort is required and a driver is also needed (at least for supervision).
| Functionality / type of implementation | ++ |
| Novelty / Innovation | ++ |
| Customer benefits | ++ |
| Market relevance | + |
| ++ very good / + good / Ø balanced / – less / — not available | |
Videos
Playlist
1 Videos
Playlist
3 Videos
Image/video credits: EasyMile
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Statutes
In den Statuten sind die Grundwerte und die Standards des IFOY AWARD festgelegt, nach denen die Organisation handelt. Dazu gehören unter anderem Gremien, Wahlomodus, Bewertungskriterien sowie der Code of Conduct.
Committees
The International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year has three bodies: Jury, sponsors, and advisory board.