Abstract: An automatic railless ground conveyor installation comprising a passive guide track determining the route network and individual driverless or unmanned traveling conveyor cars, each of which possesses a steering mechanism scanning in a contactless manner the guide track. The steering mechanism comprises a central scanning element which during straight ahead travel of the conveyor car is located over the guide track and after turning of the conveyor car onto the guide track serves to reset the steering deflection of the conveyor car and at least two scanning elements arranged to each side of the central scanning element at a progressively increasing distance therefrom. The outermost scanning elements when activated by the guide track serve to trigger a greater steering deflection than the inner situated scanning elements.

Abstract: An automatic railless ground conveyor installation incorporating a passive guide track determining the route network and individual driverless or unmanned traveling conveyor cars, each of which possesses a steering mechanism which scans in a contactless manner the guide track and a work control mechanism. The work control mechanism, by means of a code reader, scans in a contactless manner individual code markings arranged at junctions or branches and directly influences the steering mechanism in the sense of reaching a target or destination determined by a target code set at the work control mechanism. In front of each branch or junction a partial section of the guide track or a corresponding interruption thereof serves as continuous branch code track, the length of which indicates the code of the branch.