VDA 5050
Assembly Line
VDA 5050 Explained – An Overview of the Evolving AGV Communication Standard
VDA 5050 is a standardized interface for AGV communication. Specifically, this standard concerns the communication between AGVs (often called Fahrerloser Transportsysteme/Transportfahrzeuge (FTS) in Germany) and a master control (in other words, a fleet management software program).
BlueBotics’ ANT server software already enables the management of a diverse fleet of ANT driven vehicles, no matter what the vehicle type (tractor, forklift, underride, etc.) or brand – provided these AGVs are built upon our ANT lite+ navigation solution.
VDA 5050 intends to provide a more generic version of this functionality, which would enable every compliant AGV to work together. At the time of writing (December 2022), it is questionable as to whether the standard achieves this goal. We will discuss this further later in this post.