Cloud-based system controls 190 autonomous vehicles at BMW plant
29 October 2024 
BMW has implemented a cloud-based traffic control system at its Regensburg plant in Germany to control a fleet of 140 smart transport robots (STRs) and 50 tugger trains that handle around 10,000 trips daily, delivering parts to production lines. BMW sees the system as a significant milestone on the road to its digital factory of the future, the BMW iFactory.
The Regensburg plant produces up to 1,400 BMW X1 and X2 vehicles every day, including combustion-engined vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fully-electric models. Every 57 seconds, a new vehicle rolls off the assembly line. Each one is unique, built to individual customer specifications, from thousands of separate components.
The logistics behind this are extremely complex: the components and individual parts need to be in the right place in the vehicle assembly process at the right time – delivered “just in time” and in the correct order. This task is mainly handled by driverless, automated or autonomous transport systems.
In some cases, the loading and unloading of the vehicles is also automated.
BMW is using various types of driverless vehicle, depending on the task. For example, the automated tugger trains transport small parts from the warehouse to the assembly line, while larger components, weighing up to a tonne, are handled by flat transport robots, known as STRs. These were originally developed by BMW in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) about ten years ago. They now operate autonomously using dedicated AI modules. Sensors and software recognise their surroundings, allowing them to navigate around obstacles autonomously.
The vehicles are managed through BMW’s central cloud-based traffic control system, known as ATS (Automated Transport Services). When supplies need to be replenished, assembly line workers rotate change frames with empty parts containers. This operates a “retrieval rocker”. The control system receives a signal telling it that new parts are needed.
This results in the smooth, precisely timed delivery of materials, as well as maintaining intelligent traffic flow in the assembly hall. The system also provides optimal route guidance, based on delivery priorities, and ensures that the vehicles’ batteries are charged.
“What makes this so unique are the many sequenced parts specifically tailored to each customer vehicle,” points out Thomas Dietz, a BMW employee who is responsible for process improvement and quality management in physical logistics. “They must all be delivered in the order they are installed on the assembly line.
“Even a brief system failure in the supply of sequenced parts would bring production to a halt – and, of course, that is something we want to avoid,” he adds. “A lot of detailed work on both hardware and software was needed to reach the current status.”
The transport fleet is being expanded continuously to incorporate additional routes and vehicles. There are plans to integrate additional types of autonomous vehicles such as autonomous lifting trucks and automated forklifts. An autonomous vehicle commissioned recently in the Regensburg press shop can carry loads of up to 55 tonnes.
“Our vision of intelligently connected logistics, relying on a variety of different autonomous transport systems that seamlessly interact with one another – from small to extremely large – is gradually taking shape,” Dietz explains.
