Italy: The prototype of the Unmanned Railway Vehicle (URV) is tested on the Bologna San Donato test circuit of the national railway infrastructure operator RFI.
URV is reported to have been designed with a purpose of monitoring the condition of the infrastructure, detecting humans on the tracks, and reducing the incidence of vandalism and theft at railway transport facilities. The system will be operational during scheduled train breaks on high-speed lines.
The Unmanned Railway Vehicle of RFI. Source: RFI
Either in autonomous or remote control mode, URV can reach 200 km/h and is equipped with batteries that allow for four hours of continuous operation. Its detection and monitoring equipment includes lidars, infrared and optical sensors.
The Unmanned Railway Vehicle of RFI. Source: RFI
The manufacturer of URV remains undisclosed. Currently, RFI mostly uses diagnostic trains from Mermec.
