Logismile Has Begun Its Test of PLUTO in the City of Hamburg

Within the framework of LogiSmile, a project co-funded by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, our autonomous delivery robot PLUTO is being piloted in the city of Hamburg starting on October 20.

The robot will be tested on the homePORT, specifically at the south end of the old Elbtunnel, and will demonstrate an autonomous logistic concept for last-mile delivery. The demonstration will feature the NFF’s self-designed and manufactured concept “PLUTO”.

The vehicle will demonstrate future use cases such as package handling and obstacle avoidance. And moreover, the validation of the autonomous navigation system, robot-human interaction, and validation of the back-end control center including the mission manager and remote control.

This project aims to reduce urban traffic, promote climate-neutral transportation of goods in the last-mile with customized vehicles and reduce demand in the urban area (infrastructure and centers).

LogiSmile background

Today’s logistics operations in city centres can lead to negative effects: an increase in traffic congestion; safety problems for pedestrians, bikers, and deliverers; air and noise pollution. To tackle these challenges, the LogiSmile partners will test in 3 pilot cities with distinct social and urbanistic backgrounds (Esplugues de Llobregat in Spain, Hamburg in Germany, and Debrecen in Hungary), a fully autonomous delivery system consisting of an autonomous hub vehicle, PLUTO that works in cooperation with Ona. Furthermore, a remote back-end control centre will also participate in the system by managing the communication between the 2 robots, acquiring on-field data, optimizing the fleet operations with efficient routing and cooperation algorithms, and providing a fail-operational solution in case of complex situations that cannot be solved autonomously.

The LogiSmile project is developed under the lead of CARNET in close collaboration with Area Metropolitana de Barcelona, DKV Debrecen, Esplugues de Llobregat City Council, ITS Hamburg, Last Mile Autonomous Delivery, NFF – TU Braunschweig, Otostolik, PTV Group, Dirección General de Tráfico, UPC-IRI, and UPC-CDEI.