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On March 10, 2023, Huizhou Daily reported the latest progress of the intelligent upgrade project of the logistics base of CNOOC (Huizhou) Logistics Co., Ltd.: The country's first non-standard operation piece of miscellaneous cargo dock's autonomous driving trucks have achieved 100 days of normalized safe operation in Huizhou!
On November 1, 2022, the autonomous driving electric trucks supported by TRUNK.TECH officially started operation at the logistics base of CNOOC (Huizhou) Logistics Co., Ltd. This marks the first application of autonomous driving technology at a miscellaneous cargo dock in the country. Currently, the "Ace Fleet" has undertaken 70% of the cargo transportation tasks at the base, helping to accelerate the intelligent level of the logistics base in Huizhou for the development of offshore oil to the next stage.
Here is the full text of the report from Huizhou Daily
In the sunny month of March, the logistics base of CNOOC (Huizhou) Logistics Co., Ltd. located in the Daya Bay Petrochemical District (referred to below as "CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base"), the dock is surrounded by rippling waves, with seagulls occasionally flying by, and several ships docked waiting for loading and unloading. In the operation area, a white autonomous driving electric truck is seen fully loaded with cargo, following a predetermined route from a dispatch point to the next unloading point.
On November 1, 2022, two autonomous driving electric trucks at the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base officially started operation. This marks the first application of autonomous driving technology at a miscellaneous cargo dock in the country and signifies that the intelligent level of the Huizhou Logistics Base has entered a new phase. As of March 3, these two autonomous driving electric trucks have been running safely for 100 days as a routine, undertaking 70% of the cargo transportation tasks at the base, and have become the "Ace Fleet" of the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base.
Solving the Challenges of Port Operation Processes, Pioneering a Full-Stack "AiTrucker" L4 Autonomous Driving System.
CNOOC's subsidiary, the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base, is one of the most advanced offshore oil logistics service support bases in China. In recent years, the base has been continuously promoting the application of digitalization, automation, and intelligent technologies, empowering with technology to provide high-quality services to customers. Compared to standardized process operations at container ports and bulk cargo docks, the base is a highly characteristic non-standard operation port with complex operation processes and elements, high interconnection between various operation links, and high system coordination difficulty. Therefore, it is challenging to achieve rapid and efficient intelligent upgrading using general automation processes.
In light of this, the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base, in collaboration with partners, has conducted extensive research and tailored a full-stack "AiTrucker" L4 Autonomous Driving System for specific work scenarios within the base. On November 1, 2022, the country's first autonomous driving project vehicle for a non-standard operation piece of miscellaneous cargo dock officially began routine operation at the base. Two autonomous driving electric trucks have become important members of the base's transportation team.
From an exterior perspective, the autonomous driving electric truck may not appear to be much different from a conventional truck, but it is equipped with advanced technology that makes it much "smarter": During the base operation, AiTrucker acts as the artificial intelligence virtual driver of the truck. It utilizes the vehicle's mounted LiDAR, intelligent cameras, millimeter-wave radar, and other sensing and positioning hardware systems to perceive the surrounding environment and obstacles. By integrating multi-sensor fusion algorithms, it effectively addresses challenges such as large blind spots, variable driving environments, obstacle identification, and interactions with terminal devices. Additionally, AiTrucker combines high-precision maps with GNSS, inertial navigation, LiDAR, intelligent cameras, and other multi-sensor fusion data to enable the autonomous driving truck to achieve centimeter-level precise positioning, greatly enhancing operational accuracy and driving safety.
"With precise positioning and the support of 5G technology, autonomous driving is safer than manual driving," said Zhang Longlong, an information engineer at CNOOC (Huizhou) Logistics Co., Ltd. He gave an example that within the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base, a large truck often has to move forward and backward several times to pass through a U-shaped bend; and in a busy environment with vehicles and people coming and going, even if the driver is highly focused, it is difficult to consider all "dangerous" factors. The "AiTrucker" autonomous driving technology can avoid various dangerous factors in real-time through various advanced sensors, and can also accurately calculate the fastest way to pass, which is efficient and safe.
Two autonomous driving trucks carry 70% of the base's cargo volume
In the busy operation area of the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base, two autonomous driving electric trucks transport and load materials back and forth on their designated routes in an orderly manner, becoming a beautiful scenery.
Zhang Cheng, the director of the production command center at the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base, introduced that the base has a total of 22 unloading points. The routes between the bulk cargo container points, the mud solidification material warehouse, and the various loading and unloading berths at the dock are the fixed transportation routes for the two autonomous driving trucks, approximately 1 kilometer long. "When assigning tasks, the operator directly sets the target task points for the autonomous electric truck in the system, and it can automatically calculate the optimal path, load the goods, and then drive autonomously to the unloading point," said Zhang Cheng. The two autonomous electric trucks are responsible for two major shipping points, accounting for about 70% of the entire base's output. Since the two "old drivers" officially took up their posts, they have been running 14 to 20 times a day and have already completed more than 3,000 trips.
To ensure safe operation, each of the two autonomous electric trucks is equipped with a safety officer. "This guy is equipped with various high-tech sensors, which are much more accurate than human vision. Our main job is to 'supervise' its operation in the cockpit, which is much easier," said safety officer He Guangxing.
In addition to autonomous driving, the two autonomous electric trucks can also be remotely driven and manually driven. There is an autonomous driving system in the production command center of the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base. By sitting in the autonomous driving cockpit, one can remotely control the autonomous electric trucks that are working in the operation area.
The responsible person in charge at the CNOOC Development Logistics Huizhou Base stated that the autonomous driving electric trucks have significantly improved the efficiency of horizontal transportation operations at the base, ensured the operational safety, alleviated labor shortages and the intensity of labor, achieved energy saving and emission reduction at the base, reduced operational management costs, and brought considerable economic and social benefits to the Huizhou base and the upstream and downstream industrial chain. This will also create a "CNOOC solution" that meets the needs of the offshore oil industry. The next step is to gradually promote the application of this technology in various bases and docks under the CNOOC Energy Logistics Co., Ltd., to promote the full chain automation development of loading and unloading vehicle operations and horizontal transportation links.
