Solgenia -- A Test Vessel Toward Energy-Efficient Autonomous Water Taxi Applications

TL;DR

This paper presents Solgenia, a test platform for energy-efficient autonomous water taxi applications, combining a nonlinear model with parameter identification across operating conditions, current-aware energy/time-optimal docking planning, and an NMPC-based controller implemented on embedded hardware. It integrates ego-motion estimation, SLAM, and a robust perception pipeline with 3D object detection and multi-extended-object tracking, along with a real-time, computationally light collision-avoidance scheme. The authors validate the framework through simulations and real-world experiments on Lake Constance and the Rhine, demonstrating energy-efficient docking under currents and safe obstacle avoidance. The work advances autonomous water mobility by providing an end-to-end, open-source pipeline and confirming the viability of optimization-based methods for real-world ASV operations. The Solgenia platform is positioned to accelerate deployment of zero-emission, on-demand water taxi services in urban waterways.

Abstract

Autonomous surface vessels are a promising building block of the future's transport sector and are investigated by research groups worldwide. This paper presents a comprehensive and systematic overview of the autonomous research vessel Solgenia including the latest investigations and recently presented methods that contributed to the fields of autonomous systems, applied numerical optimization, nonlinear model predictive control, multi-extended-object-tracking, computer vision, and collision avoidance. These are considered to be the main components of autonomous water taxi applications. Autonomous water taxis have the potential to transform the traffic in cities close to the water into a more efficient, sustainable, and flexible future state. Regarding this transformation, the test platform Solgenia offers an opportunity to gain new insights by investigating novel methods in real-world experiments. An established test platform will strongly reduce the effort required for real-world experiments in the future.

Figures (23)

• Figure 1: Photography of the ASV Solgenia in the end phase of an autonomous docking operation next to the jetty on the Rhine River in Constance.
• Figure 2: Overview of relevant parts of the test platform Solgenia with references to the sections.
• Figure 3: Location of HTWG jetty, the areas where the experiments take place (red), and the estimated currents computed by a model based on a system of partial differential equations. This data is provided by the Environmental Protection Agency of Baden-Württemberg (LUBW) and the background map is generated with OpenMap.
• Figure 4: Most important advantages and domains for the usage of ASVs.
• Figure 5: CAD model of the vessel's hull including the hardware components.