How do Moove smart cars work and what problems do they face on the route? These questions were answered by Nikolai Dubinin, host of the Industry 4.0 YouTube channel
Not so long ago, the outskirts of Butovo in Moscow turned into a test site for unmanned vehicles from Moove. VkusVill has become the first partner of a manufacturer of “smart” cars — the retailer delivers groceries to customers using drones. True, so far this is happening only in Yuzhny Butovo, and an engineer is driving a car – now in our country the movement of drones around the city without a driver is prohibited.
Moove founder Ramiz Mammadov started working on the drone a year and a half ago. First, the company bought a car, then the first lidar, which cost 700 rubles. Without this technology, the operation of the drone is impossible. It is with the help of it that the machine receives information about the environment. Only one lidar is installed on the Moove car, which distinguishes it from Yandex drones. This, of course, imposes certain restrictions. For example, the speed of the car does not exceed 30 km / h: if it accelerates strongly, the lidar will not have time to respond.
There is a laptop in the trunk of the car. This also distinguishes the Moove drone from the machines of Yandex or MIPT: these companies have more computers included in the work. However, according to Ramiz Mammadov, for the technology to work, one gaming laptop is enough.
Moove drone device
- The machine has a keyboard and mouse. It is with their help that the driver corrects the parameters and functions of the drone. This can only be done when the vehicle is in motion.
- There are several buttons in the cabin. The first one is red. It represents the familiar “on / off” to everyone. Pressing it means turning on the control of the machine. The second one is blue. It activates the inventory, which supplies voltage to all sensors. The last one – green – includes all blocks. They are in charge of management. There are only four such blocks. One is connected with the work of the steering wheel, the second – the gas. At the bottom is the third – brake control. The fourth is the so-called gateway, which transmits all these commands from the car to all blocks.
- The machine can and should be controlled remotely. Now she is commanded with a joystick, because there is not enough speed to control via 5G and 4G.
Starting a car is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. You need to set a route and select a point. You can enter a destination by address. If the target status is set, then the route is built.
During the launch of the car, it is important that the drone understands where it is, with an accuracy of 10-15 cm. For this, they drive around the area. The car passes through the right places, after which rendering starts on the computer and a map is built. Lidar compares the image it receives with what is on the map. This helps to accurately show the position of the machine in space.
However, in real life, we are constantly faced with different situations that cannot be predicted. It is difficult to put their solution into the program – for example, the appearance of a sprinkler on the road. Lidar perceives the appearance of water as an obstacle, and the car starts to slow down. This technology generally reacts to any small particles.
The “smart” car also hardly functions in yards. There are many cars parked around – this is an obstacle for the drone. He starts making mistakes, driving carelessly, or not moving at all.
All these nuances that complicate the work of the drone can be improved. In six months, Moove plans to release an unmanned truck. He will be able to deliver goods between warehouses, where it is not required to drive into bottlenecks.
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