Rheinmetall Develops AI-powered HX Transport Truck And Wins ELROB 2024 Competition.

Rheinmetall has demonstrated its expertise in artificial intelligence by achieving major success in the Interoperable Robotic Convoy (InterRoC) project. The company's team, composed of members from the Research & Technology division of Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH and Rheinmetall Canada Inc., secured first place in the "Automated Convoy" category at the European Land Robot Trial 2024 (ELROB). Their success was made possible by the combination of the HX truck and the PATH autonomy kit.
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The combination of the HX truck and the PATH autonomy kit. (Picture source: Rheinmetall)

The PATH autonomy kit, also known as the "PATH A-Kit," is an AI-supported navigation system that can be integrated into nearly any vehicle. This system has been successfully tested on various platforms, including the Mission Master robotic vehicle family. It was notably used during the 2023 Estonia Unmanned Ground Systems Autonomy Trials. At ELROB 2024, the PATH A-Kit autonomously managed two HX logistics vehicles in a convoy scenario, both of which were also equipped with drive-by-wire systems.

ELROB is an international competition in the fields of robotics, sensor technology, and autonomy, held every two years. Participants, including universities as well as civilian and military manufacturers, compete to demonstrate the capabilities of modern robots. The 12th edition of the event took place from June 24 to 28, 2024, at the German Armed Forces Technical Center for Land-Based Vehicle Systems, Engineering, and General Equipment (WTD 41) in Trier, with 19 teams participating. Rheinmetall subsidiaries competed in both a tactical leader-follower scenario and a real-life scenario.

The tasks for 2024 were significantly more challenging than those of the previous competition. The autonomous vehicles and the convoy commander had to navigate dynamic obstacles, alternative routes, and various electromagnetic interferences. Despite these challenges, the system excelled, completing all tasks.

The HX vehicles faced eleven different obstacles on a 6 km circuit, including narrow paths, transitions between on-road and off-road driving, navigating through dense forests, communication interference, reversing, and obstacle avoidance. "The course was very demanding, but our performance demonstrates that the Rheinmetall PATH-A kit is ready for real-world use cases," said Paul Rocco, Managing Director of Rheinmetall Provectus, a company acquired by Rheinmetall Canada in 2019.

In a surprise move, the organizers introduced an additional vehicle into the convoy, requiring the following truck to slow down and navigate around it. The convoy was also split, necessitating remote control of the trailing truck on a parallel path and reconfiguration of the convoy with the remote-controlled truck as the new leader. "The ELROB 2024 scenario was much more challenging than the 2022 edition," noted Sebastian Elze, project manager in Rheinmetall Landsysteme's Research & Technology division.

Despite these obstacles, the team completed most of the route in convoy mode without GPS, thanks to the system's ability to operate in GPS-deprived environments. "This is the first time we've demonstrated this specific capability, which represents a significant upgrade for the PATH A kit," said Luc Brunet, Director of Robotics and Autonomous Systems at Rheinmetall Provectus. The system transitioned smoothly between GPS-enabled and GPS-free modes without any loss of functionality.

In addition to the evaluated scenarios, autonomous driving demonstrations were conducted for visitors, including military generals, officials from the German Federal Ministry of Defence, the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), and WTD41. The vehicles on display and available for demonstration drives generated significant interest among the visitors.

The InterRoC project, launched four years ago, aims to develop customer requirements for future autonomous logistics vehicles. It continues to evolve under the direction of BAAINBw, with military HX2 trucks equipped with autonomy kits and drive-by-wire systems, operating on a leader-follower principle. For this year's competition, the PATH autonomy kit developed by Rheinmetall Canada was installed, allowing Rheinmetall to offer a fully integrated solution.