The paper describes the possibilities of enhancing the performance of autonomous vehicles by interacting with the surrounding environment. Benefits and drawbacks of the use of different sensors and strategies for integrating the acquired knowledge are examined in an example case of a ‘through partly closed door’ navigation task for an AGV. This illustrates the increased ability of sensors to acquire knowledge by actively doing explorative actions. A combined mechanical actuation and probing device accentuates the sense-act paradigm.