BY MAXENE LONDON
Robosweeper, WeRide’s second purpose-built self-driving vehicle / WeRide YouTube
The Robosweeper is a new, fully electric and driverless truck that cleans and sanitises public roads, creating a solution for keeping highly populated city streets clean.
Designed in collaboration with WeRide and Yutong Group, the Robosweeper cleans the roads by sweeping, sprinkling, and spraying disinfectant from its rear and sides.
Following the pandemic, this sort of function is highly sought after, particularly in densely populated cities like China, which recently implemented one of the world’s most restrictive policies with the goal of having zero covid-19 cases.
The vehicle looks like a futuristic concept bus, but it’s actually production-ready. It has heavily tinted windows which hide the lack of a driver in the cabin, and sensors that stick out of the body of the vehicle and allow for Level 4 autonomy.
The fleet is controlled by a cloud-based platform, with all route planning, supervising, and maintenance stops for things like charging, product and water refilling, and expelling of waste able to be completed without human intervention.
The Robosweeper joins a range of autonomous vehicles by WeRide, which already includes the Robotaxi, Robovan, and Robobus.
There is already a fleet of Robosweepers ready and waiting to start testing in Guangzhou, later this month.
