The rise of the Premium Digital Car Company
The Audi AGV – known in-house as “Paula” – has three on-board laser scanners, two at the front and one at the rear. These allow “Paula” to orientate herself and prevent her from colliding with people. The human has priority at all times. One of the front scanners is angled upwards so that it is even able to identify objects suspended from the ceiling. The sensors are also used to record measurement data. The computer of the AGV then compares this data with the stored map data. At the same time, the navigation software compares the data measurements from the laser scanner with the wheel rotations. This enables even more precise localization. Speed is limited to 4.2 kilometers per hour (2.6 mph). All braking is anticipatory, gentle and consequently energy efficient; when calculating the braking, the development engineers used similar algorithms to those which Audi used for controlling Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) in their cars. With its laser scanners, the AGV recognizes the workpiece trailer from its contours. The AGV drives up to it with millimeter accuracy, even if it is not standing exactly in its predefined position. The same precision is applied when parking over the charging plate. A touch display at the front, an extensive visual signal concept and voice output allow communication and interaction with the surroundings. At Audi’s Technical Center for Production Assistance Systems, the AGV’s navigation system has now reached the third prototype stage and is close to series production. Like its predecessors, all aspects of “Paula” have been developed entirely in-house by Audi. Even the software is an in-house development. Since March of this year, the AGV is used in series production of the Audi A3/Q2 at the Ingolstadt plant. DTS technology has huge potential: by networking the navigation data of several individual vehicles with an overarching fleet manager, it is possible to create an intelligent overall system.