Canada’s first tele-driven Truck Mounted Attenuator (TMA) truck, utilizing technology from Estonian company Elmo, will debut in a live presentation at Intertraffic in Amsterdam, the world’s premier international trade fair dedicated to traffic infrastructure, management, road safety, and parking, Elmo said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
RSG International, a global leader in road safety infrastructure, recently inked a licensing agreement with Elmo Remote Ltd., the Estonian company behind the groundbreaking road legal tele-driving technology. Significant progress has been made since a Ford F550 arrived in Estonia from Canada in late 2023. Since then, the truck has been retrofitted and soon will be on display in the North American market.
“This project hasn’t been without its hurdles. While we’ve had prior experience and were proficient in upgrading electrical vehicles in past projects, the Ford F550 posed unique challenges with its hydraulic power steering and braking system. However, after overcoming some trial and error, our team of great engineers successfully adapted our technology. Now, we possess the necessary skills and experience to retrofit an entire fleet of crash trucks,” said Enn Laansoo, Jr., CEO and founder of Elmo.
The technology will have a live presentation at Intertraffic demo area D1, hall 7. The vehicle, which is still in Tallinn, will be driven remotely from Amsterdam by a licensed tele-driver under the Estonian Transport Administration.
The truck can be taken throughout the European Union for promotions until May, when it will be delivered back to Canada.
“The integration of this technology would in theory allow us to remove drivers from TMA truck vehicles, ensuring their safety during operations. Our research and development team are eager to do our testing to see if tele-driving will be a good fit for the road and construction industry across Canada,” said Elliot Steele, vice president of technology at RSG International.
The remotely controllable Ford F550 crash truck’s live presentation in the Netherlands is organized together with Dutch Automated Mobility (DAM), a pioneer in autonomous vehicle technology.
Elmo’s road legal tele-driving technology has been used in public car-sharing services since 2022 and is legal today in three countries. The company, which is developing similar technology for military use, has run testing and started road legal procedures in Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, the US and other countries.
TMAs are mobile crash cushion systems. They are designed to shield workzone vehicles and mitigate the impact on the driver of the impacting vehicle during high speed impacts through the activation of an attenuator, or kinetic absorption device that is mounted to the rear of the safety truck.
Source: BNS
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