Preparing the published article.
AMR and Driverless Truck Safety: Define the System and Operating Zone
Use ISO 3691-4:2023 as a scoped starting point for driverless truck research, with practical checks for operating zones, loads, interfaces, commissioning and later site changes.
Assess the transport system, not only the vehicle
A mobile robot purchase affects routes, loading points, charging areas and the people working around them. The useful starting question is whether the proposed machine and task fall within a particular document's scope. Marketing labels such as AMR or AGV do not settle that question, and a product badge does not assess the buyer's warehouse.
Prepare a diagram showing vehicles, fleet software, load-transfer equipment and external systems. Mark where responsibility passes between the robot supplier, integrator, building owner and operations team. This creates a practical basis for a specialist assessment.
Check the published edition and its limits
ISO 3691-4:2023, edition 2, published in June 2023, addresses driverless industrial trucks and their systems. Its examples include AGVs and AMRs. On 10 September 2026 the ISO catalogue still listed it as published while showing a successor draft under development. A draft is not a replacement publication.
The public scope excludes solely mechanically guided and remotely controlled trucks. It also identifies limits concerning public-road and public-zone applications, among other hazards. Requirements for the power source and safety of towed trailers are not supplied by this document. Ask the assessor to record supplementary requirements for the actual system.
Survey the operating zone and transfer points
The site's condition materially affects the assessment. Walk proposed routes during ordinary production and peak traffic, including loading, unloading and return journeys. Record blind corners, pedestrian crossings, doorways, floor transitions, ramps, temporary storage and locations where someone could be trapped between a load and a fixed object.
Measure the complete loaded envelope, including overhang and turning movement.
Describe pedestrian and manually driven vehicle interactions at each crossing.
Identify access controls, charging locations and the route for recovery.
Assign ownership of housekeeping, route changes and damaged floor repairs.
Have the specialist define the protective measures and verification method. A route survey does not itself establish a safe clearance or speed.
Specify the vehicle configuration and interfaces
Request the exact base, top module, load carrier, sensors, controller and software release. As a concrete example, OMRON's LD specification page distinguishes model configurations and environmental restrictions. That illustrates why an indoor product description cannot be expanded into a general outdoor operating promise.
Document handshakes at conveyors, lifts and automatic doors. Define what happens if the receiving station is occupied, a pallet is misplaced or a communication acknowledgement is missing. Include who may recover an interrupted transfer and how a completed transfer is confirmed. These questions expose gaps between a transport vehicle and a functioning production workflow.
Verify ordinary operation and foreseeable interruptions
ISO 12100:2010 provides a general machinery risk-assessment framework. Use qualified assessment to connect identified hazards with the proposed design and verification evidence. Public abstracts provide orientation; they are not complete commissioning instructions.
Agree a controlled acceptance programme covering representative loads, busy routes, charging demand and interrupted missions. Keep commercial measures such as completed deliveries separate from safety verification. Record failures, corrective actions and retests. Personnel carrying out checks need an agreed procedure; do not improvise hazardous obstruction or stopping-distance experiments.
Keep the assessment current after handover
Set review triggers for new loads, changed layouts, additional vehicles, software updates or altered transfer equipment. Maintain configuration records and operator instructions so the next shift can identify which arrangement was accepted. Include a route for reporting near misses and recurring recovery problems.
Use Write a Robotics Buyer Brief to capture the material flow and consult Standards & Regulations for the broader evidence workflow. This guide supports procurement research; it is not a finding that a particular AMR installation complies.