Camera-Based Driver Assistance System for Optimal Positioning of Pantograph Based Electrified Trucks and Semi-Trailers on Ehighway Corridors

The trials of the Siemens eHighway concept have been taking place in Germany and Sweden for almost a decade. It is one of the electrification strategies being adopted to decarbonize the heavy-duty market segment to achieve the goal of overall carbon neutrality. The approach is to equip a fully electric truck with a pantograph to operate the electric motor via an overhead catenary line (OCL) on designated routes and to charge the vehicle's internal battery during the drive. Thus, theoretically providing the long-haul heavy-duty vehicles with an infinite range, only geographically limited by the availability of the OCL. Pantograph-based eHighway vehicles, although analogous to the electric drive concepts of trams and trolley buses, have their own sets of challenges. To utilize the advantages of the OCL, the vehicles must swiftly connect and remain in contact with the OCL in a particular geographical sector, based on the availability of the OCL. This process must be actuated and then monitored by the driver of the vehicle. It is an additional task on the driver's part and the driver needs assistance to localize the vehicle in the relevant driving corridor and maintain his driving line to stay in contact with the OCL. Industrial ADAS solutions can be utilized but initial tests have resulted in limited reliability under adverse weather conditions. Therefore, an alternate Camera-based system must be developed and tested to assist the driver as a redundant source of information to take decisions and adjust his driving maneuvers accordingly for the optimal use of the eHighway system. The results were derived from a research project currently being undertaken at the Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components at the RWTH Aachen University and is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.