PopularMechanics082017

HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS

14 http://www.popularmechanics.co.za _ AUGUST 2017

IN THE ROLLING GREEN CANEFIELDS OF MARINGÁ,

in the Brazilian countryside just an hour’s flight

west of São Paulo – the most populous city in the

southern hemisphere – on rugged tracks far

away from city streets, autonomous drive is

being put to the test. Here, in the past growing

season, the huge fields of the Usina Santa

Terezinha Group, a sugar and ethanol producer,

have acted as proving grounds for a prototype

vehicle from Volvo Trucks. The truck was devel-

oped to examine how automated driving can

make it possible to avoid damage to soil and

crops, thus boosting revenues. The potential for

bigger harvests is significant: up to ten tons a

hectare annually.

Precisely steered, the truck avoids damage to

the young plants that will form part of the crop

in the next harvest. According to Volvo, this is

another step towards autonomous driving. Just

like the tests being done back in Sweden, in the

north of the country at the Kristineberg Mine

and in Volvo’s home city of Gothenburg, where

an autonomous refuse collection truck is being

tested. The aim is to evaluate how systems with

SWEET TASTE OF SELF-STEERING

Autonomous-drive tech boosts Brazil’s sugar-cane harvest

different degrees of automation can contribute to higher produc-

tivity, a better working environment and improved safety.

What the Brazilian experiment hopes to achieve is a significant

reduction in losses. At present, about four per cent of the crop is

lost as young plants are run over and the soil is compacted by

moving vehicles. This can translate into hundreds of thousands

of rand in lost revenue per truck per season.

“With the help of Volvo Trucks’ solution we can increase pro-

ductivity, not just for one single crop but for the entire lifecycle

of the sugar-cane plant, which lasts five to six years,” says Santa

Terezinha’s finance and procurement director, Paulo Meneguetti.

Currently sugar cane is brought in from the fields using har-

vesters and manually controlled trucks, which drive alongside

each other at low speed. When a truck is fully loaded and drives

off to empty its load, the next one moves up next to the harvester

and the procedure is repeated. The big challenge for the truck

driver is to match the speed of the harvester and at the same time

concentrate fully on driving in its tracks, to avoid trampling the

nearby plants that will become the following year’s crop.

Volvo Trucks’ driver assistance system automates steering with

Left: Automated-drive

system features such

as GPS receivers, dual

gyroscopes (IMU) and

stepper motor unit for

steering.

Below: Self-steering

Volvo VM configured

for sugar-cane trans-

portation.