• Manual charging remains a critical bottleneck in autonomous freight operations, undermining utilisation, safety, and scalability by introducing labour dependency, operational disruption, and ergonomic risk across ports and distribution hubs.
• AI-driven, hands-free charging systems overcome real-world alignment challenges, improve safety at high-voltage and megawatt charging levels, and can be retrofitted into existing infrastructure to enable phased, cost-effective automation.
• Achieving true end-to-end autonomy in logistics requires automated charging to be fully integrated with fleet, yard, and energy management systems, supported by standardised connectors and open protocols to enable uninterrupted, scalable operations.

Vehicles that can drive themselves but still require human intervention to recharge cannot be described as fully autonomous. In freight and logistics, where operators rely on continuous use, this gap undermines efficiency and limits the ability to scale.

Demonstrations at ports and test facilities show that automated charging is ready for integration today, yet many fleets remain dependent on manual systems. Unless infrastructure evolves in step with autonomy, fleets will hit a bottleneck at the plug rather than on the road.

The cost of manual charging 

In sprawling ports and distribution hubs, the inefficiencies of manual charging quickly multiply. Crijn Bouman, CEO and Co-Founder of Rocsys, explains, “Manual charging introduces disruption across large sites. It is labour-intensive, slow, error-prone and costly to scale, creating inefficiency and adding costs.” 

Beyond operational drag, manual intervention introduces safety and ergonomic risks: repeatedly handling heavy connectors can strain workers and raise the likelihood of accidents.

Idle vehicles waiting for a human operator to connect them reduce utilisation, interrupt workflows, and ripple inefficiency across entire operations. 

“By making charging hands-free, operators remove both the operational drag and the safety exposure, allowing ports and hubs to run more efficiently and with fewer interruptions,” Bouman notes. 

Charging smarter

Traditional manual or fixed-alignment systems often fail under real-world conditions. Bouman describes the advantage of AI-driven solutions: “Manual connections are prone to error and fixed alignment systems only work if a vehicle parks with perfect precision. This rarely happens in practice, and unpredictable weather conditions can cause further misalignment.”

AI-based vision technology detects a vehicle’s position even when misaligned, while robotics precisely adjust connectors, keeping people away from high-voltage hardware. 

“The technology ensures charging remains reliable and safe at scale, giving operators confidence that their fleets can run with minimal downtime and without constant supervision,” Bouman explains.

Retrofitting existing infrastructure

One promising approach to adoption is retrofitting current chargers rather than rebuilding infrastructure. “Rocsys’ Automatic Connection Devices are add-on solutions meaning they can retrofit into existing chargers and integrate with yard management systems, giving operators a phased route to automation rather than requiring a total rebuild,” Bouman says. However, confidence is key: operators must see proven results before committing. Industry associations like CharIN, which Rocsys is part of, play a vital role in establishing standards that make retrofitting practical and reliable.

Meeting the challenges of megawatt charging

Heavy-duty electric trucks and yard tractors often demand megawatt-scale charging, creating unique challenges. Bouman explains, “The cables are heavy and awkward, and while a person can plug them in occasionally, doing so repeatedly across a fleet slows operations and increases safety risks. At such high power levels, precision is critical to avoid arcing or overheating.”

Rocsys’ MACBETH project addresses this with hands-free systems capable of managing megawatt-scale connectors safely and reliably, while integration with energy management systems ensures vehicles charge quickly without overloading the grid.

End-to-end autonomous network

For Bouman, full autonomy isn’t just about vehicles driving themselves—it’s about the entire operation flowing without human interruption. “A fully autonomous network means vehicles complete journeys without manual intervention, including recharging, from beginning to end,” he says. Achieving this requires standardised connectors, open communication protocols, and tight integration with fleet and yard management software.

“Standardised connectors and open communication protocols will be key to scaling this across multi-brand fleets and diverse operations. By embedding charging into those systems, end-to-end autonomy will move from demonstration to daily reality,” Bouman stresses.

Ultimately, automated charging transforms logistics from a fragmented, stop-start system into a seamless, efficient network. Bouman concludes, “True autonomy in logistics means vehicles can complete the entire journey from port arrival through to warehouse delivery without human intervention. Right now, charging is the step that breaks this flow – solving it is the breakthrough that makes full autonomy possible.”

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