Will Danish robotic companies literarily be overtaken?

A number of Danish companies and organizations highlight the shortcomings in the new changes in the Danish Traffic Act that allows testing of small, autonomous vehicles in public spaces.

As The Danish Traffic Act has made it possible to test small, autonomous vehicles in public spaces, it should become more likely to see robots delivering goods right to the door. The change though includes only self-propelled robots driving at a speed of up to 6 km/h and weighing less than 100 kg.

Fossil driven machinery is also excluded, which eliminates a major possibility of testing robots for especially agriculture and turf maintenance. Additionally, a battery driven vehicle weighing less than 100 kg would most likely lack sufficient range as batteries are heavy.

Minister slams the anchors

For the Minister of Transport, Benny Engelbrecht, it all comes down to traffic safety, and that the common road user does not become insecure around the robots; a development that in his opinion must be made through many small steps over time. According to significant players in the robot business, this approach could cause Danish innovation and research to be literarily taken over by foreign companies.

Among other, Aarhus Municipality, the Danish robot cluster, Odense Robotics, and Conpleks have pointed out that testing of larger vehicles must be feasible. Otherwise, it will cut off companies as well as the Danish research and innovation environment from experiments with larger units e.g. targeted agriculture and construction, which is particularly in demand at the moment.

 

– Any competitive advantage, the change provides, is important. So hopefully, this will make the process towards a commercial product easier for those Danish companies, who can actually meet the requirements. Although we cannot exploit the possibilities, the act provides, it doesn’t prevent us from continuing our work on developing robots, explains Dennis Snitgaard, Sales and Business Development Manager at Conpleks.

The grass is greener

Holo is a great example of a Danish company that works with integration and operation of autonomous vehicles. The company stands for safe operations that constantly pushes autonomous technology to its limit, e.g. people transportation using mini shuttles or minivan sized vehicles. An approach that forces the company to look for test places outside Denmark.

– We could go running around a test area, but if we should learn anything and gather necessary experience, we have to test on real roads. That is the reason why we are planning to test our autonomous vehicles in Norway, says Michael Skibsted, Project Manager at Holo, and continues,

– Testing can easily be done in a controlled and safe way. But without the possibility, we fear that the innovation within this area in Denmark dies completely.