Category: Driverless vehicles

The World’s First Intelligent Unmanned Oceanographic Research Ship Enters Service

The world’s first intelligent unmanned oceanographic research vessel “Zhuhaiyun” entered service in the city of Zhuhai today.

The ship, which has successfully completed all its maritime test objectives, is the world’s first intelligent oceanographic research vessel with autonomous navigation and remote control functions. The ship’s power system, information system, dynamic positioning system and operation support system are completely independently developed by China.

Continue reading… “The World’s First Intelligent Unmanned Oceanographic Research Ship Enters Service”

Vueron Technology did not share many details about the partnership, but noted it will help bring added sustainability through the transportation process. 

Vueron Technology has partnered with Teamfresh, one of South Korea’s biggest cold-chain logistics providers, and will supply it with its self-driving trucks.

The Seoul, South Korea-based company offers several vision products. The company said VueOne is its flagship product and uses only one lidar sensor to help autonomous vehicles detect obstacles. VueTwo is used for IoT applications and smart city applications for safety and security purposes. Vueron added that it works with automotive OEMs and Tier-1s.

Earlier this year, the company was approved for LiDAR-only autonomous vehicle testing permits in California.

“Through its innovative LiDAR-based solution, Vueron believes it can tackle the dual problems of high transportation costs and labor shortage, which have always represented a big hurdle in the logistics market,” it said.

Seoul, South Korea-based Teamfresh offers customers “order processing, operation consulting, fresh food third-party logistics, and commercial refrigeration vehicle distribution systems,” according to Pitchbook. It was founded in 2018 and has raised a total of $118 million.

Vueron said by working with Teamfresh it is helping establish a sustainable transportation service within the cold-chain marketplace. Vueron claimed that Teamfresh accounts for “90% of the whole fresh product delivery business in South Korea.”

Continue reading… “Vueron Technology to Provide Self-Driving Trucks for One of South Korea’s Biggest Cold-Chain Providers”

The company’s vehicle fleet combines autonomy with remote human teleoperation to carry out its deliveries.

Faction Technology, a driverless-technology company, announced it is bringing driverless delivery to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. Faction’s first partner is Cocola Bakery, which is using Faction to deliver to its customers around the metro region. Deliveries will be made ​​in lightweight, electric vehicles based on three wheel EV platforms from Arcimoto and from ElectraMeccanica. Since July, Faction has made regular deliveries to the bakery’s customers and it’s now looking to add additional delivery partners in the coming months.

Equipped with Faction’s DriveLink and TeleAssist technologies, the company’s vehicle fleet combines autonomy with remote human teleoperation to carry out its deliveries. These technologies allow Faction to provide businesses like Cocola Bakery with a delivery service that seamlessly delivers goods via a driverless fleet in an affordable, safe, and predictable way.

“Cocola Bakery and our customers have been ecstatic with the services Faction has provided us so far,” said Amir Aliabadi, CEO of Cocola Bakery. “We are now able to quickly, affordably, and reliably deliver our products to customers around the Bay Area, something we couldn’t easily accomplish before due to inconsistent gig-worker services.”

Continue reading… “Faction Debuts Driverless Delivery Cars in San Francisco”

Outrider, the startup developing autonomous yard operations for logistics hubs, has releaseed TrailerConnect – a patented technology that robotically attaches the needed brake and electric lines from yard trucks to any of the over 10 million trailers and chassis circulating globally.

BY MARK ALLINSON

A deep-learning based technology, TrailerConnect is now available as part of the Outrider System, which automates distribution yards for large, logistics-dependent enterprises.

In distribution yards around the globe, yard trucks transition semi-trailers from dock doors to parking spots to public roads. To move these trailers, truck drivers connect pressurized brake lines to semi-trailers to release the parking brake and move the trailers around the yard – a hazardous manual task that requires the driver to get in and out of the cab constantly. 

Andrew Smith, CEO and founder of Outrider, says: “Outrider is reinventing the modern distribution yard to be more efficient, safer, and sustainable, and we are delivering the breakthrough technology like TrailerConnect to do it.

“TrailerConnect automates a dangerous task traditionally performed over 6 billion times annually worldwide. Four years of development and close partnerships with our priority customers has resulted in a technology integral to autonomously moving freight.”

Continue reading… “Outrider equips autonomous trucks with deep-learning driven robotic arms”

Hyundai Motor Group has started two pilot delivery service programs using autonomous robots based on its Plug & Drive (PnD) modular platform at a hotel and a residential-commercial complex located on the outskirts of Seoul.

The delivery robot consists of a storage unit integrated on top of a PnD driving unit. Alongside the loading box used to deliver items, a connected screen displays information for customers.

First shown at CES 2022, the Group’s PnD modular platform is an all-in-one single-wheel unit that combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware, including a steering actuator for 360-degree, holonomic rotation.

It moves autonomously with the aid of LiDAR and camera sensors. An integrated storage unit allows the robot to transport products to customers.

Continue reading… “Hyundai Motor Robots Begin Pilot Programs to Advance Last-mile Delivery”

TrailerConnect uses proprietary software algorithms, hardware and sensors integrated onto Yaskawa-supplied arms to locate, identify, connect to and disconnect from semi-trailers without modifications or adapters.

By Marina Mayer

Outrider released TrailerConnect, a patented technology that robotically attaches the needed brake and electric lines from yard trucks to any trailers and chassis. 

“Outrider is reinventing the modern distribution yard to be more efficient, safer and sustainable, and we are delivering the breakthrough technology like TrailerConnect to do it,” says Andrew Smith, CEO and founder of Outrider. “TrailerConnect automates a dangerous task traditionally performed over 6 billion times annually worldwide. Four years of development and close partnerships with our priority customers has resulted in a technology integral to autonomously moving freight.”

Continue reading… “Autonomous Trucks Equipped with Deep Learning-Driven Robotic Arms”

New pilot programs demonstrate Hyundai Motor Group’s new Plug & Drive (PnD)-based robots with integrated autonomous driving technology and Group insights

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) has started two pilot delivery service programs using autonomous robots based on its Plug & Drive (PnD) modular platform at a hotel and a residential-commercial complex located in the outskirts of Seoul.

The delivery robot consists of a storage unit integrated on top of a PnD driving unit. Alongside the loading box used to deliver items, a connected screen displays information for customers.

First shown at CES 2022, the Group’s PnD modular platform is an all-in-one single wheel unit that combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware, including a steering actuator for 360-degree, holonomic rotation. It moves autonomously with the aid of LiDAR and camera sensors. An integrated storage unit allows the robot to transport products to customers.

By adding the autonomous driving capability, the PnD-based robot can find the optimal route within the area to deliver packages to recipients. It can recognize and avoid fixed and moving objects and drive smoothly, providing a fast delivery time.

“PnD-based delivery robots allow quicker delivery times with improved safety through the use of autonomous driving technology, including fast obstacle avoidance capabilities,” said Dong Jin Hyun, Head of Robotics LAB of Hyundai Motor Group. “We plan to keep upgrading mobility services, convenience, safety and affordability for customers through our pilot programs.”

Continue reading… “Hyundai Motor Group robots get rolling with pilot programs to advance last-mile delivery”

Einride has raised $500 million through a combination of equity and debt financing, giving it more funding to accelerate deployment of its autonomous and electric vehicles.

By Brian Straight

FreightTech startup Einride announced Wednesday it had raised $500 million in financing through a combination of a Series C equity raise and a debt facility.

The Sweden-based company raised $200 million in the Series C with the Swedish pension fund AMF, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Polar Structure, Norrsken VC and Temasek, among others participating in the round. In addition, Einride said it secured a $300 million debt facility led by Barclays Europe.

“The time is now to act on not only developing but accelerating the implementation of technology that will create a cleaner, safer and more efficient way to move goods,” said Robert Falck, founder and CEO at Einride. “We’ve created the Einride ecosystem to provide the most resilient and future-proof approach to electrifying freight today. With the support from our investors and shared belief in this mission, we’ll continue to drive disruptive change to global freight at scale.” 

The debt facility includes an initial rollout of $150 million in January, the company said, and will be used to support the growing Einride fleet in the U.S. and Europe and for future planned expansions. Einride is currently operational in the U.S., Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway.

“This landmark debt facility represents a key milestone in the financing of heavy-duty electric vehicles,” said Gordon Beck, director of securitized products solutions at Barclays. “The innovative asset-backed structure complements Einride’s unique ecosystem offering and is a continued demonstration of how Barclays is using our financial and capital markets expertise to support clients in driving the transition to net-zero.”

Continue reading… “Einride announces $500M for autonomous, electric vehicle development”

By Brianna Wessling

Japan’s National Policy Agency announced that it would lift a ban preventing SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles from operating on Japanese roads. The change in policy will allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) to operate in a limited capacity in April 2023. 

The agency will announce more details on how the vehicles will be rolled out, where they’ll be available and how many will be on the roads after a public comment period scheduled to close at the end of November 2022. 

Japan hopes that it can offer mobility services using Level 4 AVs in 40 areas of the country by 2025, and in more than 100 areas by 2030. These services will likely include AVs that will be used as delivery robots or tour buses on routes in lightly populated areas. 

BOLDLY, a Tokyo-based company and subsidiary of SoftBank Corp., recently partnered with Auve Tech, an Estonian developer of autonomous shuttles, to deploy autonomous shuttles in Japan. The MiCa shuttles, which will be specifically designed for Japanese roadways, will hopefully be on roads by the end of fiscal year 2023. 

Continue reading… “Japan to open roads to autonomous vehicles in 2023”

By Nick Flaherty

The system, with Level 4 autonomy, is in use at Stuttgart Airport for Mercedes cars and marks the start of a rollout of hundreds of systems in Germany.

The driverless parking system allows users to drop their Mercedes S-Class or EQS electric car at a drop off point after notifying an app. The system then checks that the route to a specific parking spot is clear and drives the vehicle autonomously to the correct location, wherever that might be in the parking garage.

Later, the vehicle returns to the pick-up point in exactly the same way. This relies on the interaction of the intelligent infrastructure supplied by Bosch and installed in the parking garage and Mercedes-Benz technology in the car.

The approval to SAE Level 4 is based around a fixed contained environment with known routes and clearly defined risks.

Bosch sensors in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings and provide the information needed to guide the vehicle. The technology in the vehicle converts the information it receives from the infrastructure into driving manoeuvres. This allows the vehicles to drive up and down ramps to move between stories in the parking garage. If the infrastructure sensors detect an obstacle, the vehicle brakes and safely comes to a complete stop. Only once the route is clear does it continue on its way.

Continue reading… “The world’s first fully automated parking system has been approved for public use in Germany.”

South Korea’s capital launched its first self-driving bus route on Friday, part of an experiment which engineers said aims to make people feel more comfortable with driverless vehicles on the roads.

By Kang Jin-kyu

The new vehicle does not look like a regular bus and has rounded edges along with large windows that make it appear more like a toy than a technological breakthrough.

This design is intentional, said Jeong Seong-gyun, head of autonomous driving at 42dot, the start-up responsible for the self-driving technology that is now owned by auto giant Hyundai.

“This is the future,” he told AFP, adding that the bus required “a considerable new type of design”.

The bus looks a bit “like Lego” and is made of composite parts to help keep costs down and make it easy to replicate, he said.

It uses cameras and lasers to navigate the way instead of expensive sensors, Seong-gyun added.

Continue reading… “South Korean capital launches self-driving bus experiment”