State-of-the-Art Review of Autonomous Intelligent Vehicles (AIV) Technologies for the Automotive and Manufacturing Industry

Research in Autonomous Intelligent Vehicles (AIV) has been done for the past 25 years and is continuously creating advancements and capabilities. AIVs will out-strip Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) as leaders of material handling equipment. It is the ability of AIVs to operate remotely and safely with repeatability at the request and demand of the Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Integration of AIV technologies will increase productivity through consistent and seamless transportation of product in current manufacturing environments. AIV technology removes the mundane laborious manual operations from the human operator, offering workers the ability to work in a more meaningful role within the production line. Increased manufacturing output will ultimately benefit the economy and job security. This review paper will examine AIV technologies for advanced flexible manufacturing systems to improve manufacturing processes. The removal of conveyors and the inclusion of AIVs will promote flexibility within the factory floor and increase the realisation of Industry 4.0