Granted Patent B2

US 12,632,055 · App. 18/077,312 · Granted May 19, 2026

Inventors: Simon Wollnack (Hamburg, DE); Maximilian Richter (Hamburg, DE); Ralf Wetegrove (Norderstedt, DE)

Assignee: Jungheinrich AG

G05D1/0295G05D1/0022G05D1/0293G05D1/0231G05D1/0255G05D1/0257

Abstract

Claims (61)

1 . A logistics system comprising:

a leading industrial truck; and

at least one following industrial truck;

wherein the leading industrial truck is configured for autonomous driving operation and the at least one following industrial truck is not configured for autonomous driving operation,

the leading industrial truck comprises an environment monitoring system having one or more sensors for spanning an environment monitoring region;

the leading industrial truck and the at least one following industrial truck each comprise a transceiver configured to operate a wireless data connection between the leading industrial truck and the at least one following industrial truck;

the leading industrial truck and the at least one following industrial truck are configured such that the leading industrial truck controls the at least one following industrial truck remotely via the wireless data connection;

the leading industrial truck comprises an autonomous controller comprising hardware, the autonomous controller being configured to control the following industrial truck along a target path to determine a position and an orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck; and

the autonomous controller is further configured to remotely control the following industrial truck to always be located within the environment monitoring region of the leading industrial truck when traveling along the target path;

wherein the leading industrial truck further comprises an identification system configured to identify a particular following industrial truck as the following industrial truck intended to be remotely controlled;

wherein the autonomous controller is further configured to control the leading industrial truck from a starting point to a destination point and to remotely control the at least one following industrial truck to travel within the environment monitoring region of the leading industrial truck in formation with the leading industrial truck,

further comprising a request system, comprising a request controller comprising hardware and a request coordination controller comprising hardware,

wherein the request controller is configured to generate a dispatch request relating to a particular following industrial truck, wherein the dispatch request comprises information relating to one of a pick-up zone or a pick-up point and information relating to one of a delivery zone or a delivery point,

the particular following industrial truck is to be transported from one of the pick-up zone or the pick-up point to one of the delivery zone or the delivery point, and

the request coordination controller is configured to receive the dispatch request from the request controller and to establish whether the leading industrial truck is available and, if it is available, to transmit to the autonomous controller of the leading industrial truck a location within an approach environment of one of the pick-up zone or the pick-up point as the starting point and a location within an approach environment of one of the delivery zone or the delivery point as the destination point, wherein

the request controller is a separate functional unit in the following industrial truck and the dispatch request is generated in response to a message or command that is generated by a higher-level software system of the logistics system, or

the request controller is a separate operating unit in an existing system of the following industrial truck and the dispatch request is generated in response to an input generated manually by an employee at a user terminal by actuation of a quick-selection button directly at the following industrial truck.

2 . The logistics system according to claim 1 , wherein the autonomous controller of the leading industrial truck is configured to determine the position and the orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck by one or more of evaluating sensor data of the environment monitoring system and evaluating internal parameters from a vehicle controller of the following industrial truck, the vehicle controller comprising hardware.

3 . The logistics system according to claim 1 , wherein:

the autonomous controller of the leading industrial truck is configured to determine the position and the orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck by one or more of evaluating sensor data of the environment monitoring system and evaluating internal parameters from a vehicle controller of the following industrial truck, the vehicle controller comprising hardware; and

the identification system is configured, after the wireless data connection between the leading industrial truck and the particular following industrial truck has been established, to control the particular following industrial truck remotely to perform a target minimum movement and to request the relative location coordinates of the particular following industrial truck from the autonomous controller before and after the target minimum movement and to calculate an actual minimum movement of the particular following industrial truck from a comparison of the location coordinates before and after the target minimum movement and, if a deviation between the target minimum movement and the actual minimum movement is less than a predefined limit value, to identify the particular following industrial truck as the following industrial truck intended to be remotely controlled.

4 . The logistics system according to claim 1 , wherein the transceiver of the leading industrial truck and the transceiver of the following industrial truck are configured to transmit control commands for remotely controlling the following industrial truck via the wireless data connection with a delay time, the delay time being less than or equal to an internal delay time of the internal control commands communicated in the following industrial truck on an internal data connection and converted from the control commands.

5 . The logistics system according to claim 4 , wherein one or more of the transceiver of the leading industrial truck and the transceiver of the following industrial truck are configured to transmit an emergency signal to a vehicle controller of the following industrial truck if the delay time of the data transmitted on the wireless data connection exceeds a predefined limit value or if the wireless data connection is interrupted, the vehicle controller comprising hardware, and the vehicle controller is configured to put one or more of the leading industrial truck and following industrial truck into a safe operating state in response to the emergency signal.

6 . The logistics system according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of:

the leading industrial truck is configured for autonomous driving operation according to automation level 4 or higher and the following industrial truck is equipped and configured for autonomous driving operation according to automation level 3 or lower; and

the following industrial truck has no equipment for monitoring the environment.

7 . A method for operating a logistics system, wherein the logistics system comprises a leading industrial truck and at least one following industrial truck, the method comprising:

operating the leading industrial truck in autonomous driving operation and operating the at least one following industrial truck in non-autonomous driving operation,

at the leading industrial truck, scanning an environment monitoring region,

wirelessly communicating between the leading industrial truck and the at least one following industrial truck

at the leading industrial truck, wirelessly controlling the at least one following industrial truck along a target path by determining a position and orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck,

remotely controlling the following industrial truck to always be located within the environment monitoring region of the leading industrial truck when traveling along the target path; and

using an identification to identify a particular following industrial truck as the following industrial truck to be remotely controlled,

controlling the leading industrial truck from a starting point to a destination point and to remotely control the at least one following industrial truck to travel within the environment monitoring region of the leading industrial truck in formation with the leading industrial truck,

generating a dispatch request relating to a particular following industrial truck, wherein the dispatch request comprises information relating to one of a pick-up zone or a pick-up point and information relating to one of a delivery zone or a delivery point,

transporting the particular following industrial truck from one of the pick-up zone or the pick-up point to one of the delivery zone or the delivery point, and

receiving the dispatch request and establish whether the leading industrial truck is available and, if it is available, to transmit to the leading industrial truck a location within an approach environment of one of the pick-up zone or the pick-up point as the starting point and a location within an approach environment of one of the delivery zone or the delivery point as the destination point, wherein

generating the dispatch request in response to a message or command that is generated by a higher-level software system of the logistics system, or

generating the dispatch request in response to an input generated manually by an employee at a user terminal by actuation of a quick-selection button directly at the following industrial truck.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the leading industrial truck determines the position and orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck by one or more of evaluating received sensor data and evaluating internal parameters received from the following industrial truck.

9 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein:

the leading industrial truck determines the position and orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck by one or more of evaluating received sensor data and evaluating internal parameters received from the following industrial truck; and

after the wireless data connection between the leading industrial truck and the particular following industrial truck has been established, controlling the particular following industrial truck remotely to perform a target minimum movement, and querying the relative location coordinates of the particular following industrial truck queried by the leading industrial truck before and after the target minimum movement and calculating an actual minimum movement of the particular following industrial truck from a comparison of the location coordinates before and after the target minimum movement and, if a deviation between the target minimum movement and the actual minimum movement is less than a predefined limit value, the particular following industrial truck is identified as the following industrial truck to be remotely controlled.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising transmitting, between the leading industrial truck and the following industrial truck, control commands for remotely controlling the following industrial truck via the wireless data connection with a delay time that is less than or equal to an internal delay time with which the internal control commands converted from the control commands are communicated in the following industrial truck on an internal data line.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising transmitting an emergency signal to the following industrial truck if the delay time of the data transmitted exceeds a predefined limit value or if the wireless connection is interrupted, and putting one or more of the leading industrial truck and following industrial truck into a safe operating state in response to the emergency signal.

12 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein one or more of:

the leading industrial truck is operated in autonomous driving operation according to automation level 4 or higher and the following industrial truck is operated in autonomous driving operation according to automation level 3 or lower; and

the following industrial truck does not span over an environment monitoring region in which personal safety is guaranteed.

13 . Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a computer to at least perform:

operating a leading industrial truck in autonomous driving operation and operating at least one following industrial truck in non-autonomous driving operation,

at the leading industrial truck, scanning an environment monitoring region,

wirelessly communicating between the leading industrial truck and the at least one following industrial truck,

at the leading industrial truck, wirelessly controlling the at least one following industrial truck along a target path by determining a position and orientation of the following industrial truck in relation to the leading industrial truck,

remotely controlling the following industrial truck to always be located within the environment monitoring region of the leading industrial truck when traveling along the target path; and

using an identification to identify a particular following industrial truck as the following industrial truck to be remotely controlled,

controlling the leading industrial truck from a starting point to a destination point and to remotely control the at least one following industrial truck to travel within the environment monitoring region of the leading industrial truck in formation with the leading industrial truck,

generating a dispatch request relating to a particular following industrial truck, wherein the dispatch request comprises information relating to one of a pick-up zone or a pick-up point and information relating to one of a delivery zone or a delivery point,

transporting the particular following industrial truck from one of the pick-up zone or the pick-up point to one of the delivery zone or the delivery point, and

receiving the dispatch request and establish whether the leading industrial truck is available and, if it is available, to transmit to the leading industrial truck a location within an approach environment of one of the pick-up zone or the pick-up point as the starting point and a location within an approach environment of one of the delivery zone or the delivery point as the destination point, wherein

generating the dispatch request in response to a message or command that is generated by a higher-level software system of the logistics system, or

generating the dispatch request in response to an input generated manually by an employee at a user terminal by actuation of a quick-selection button directly at the following industrial truck.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (21)