Category: Science & Technology News

Fred Lambert 

Volvo Group’s construction equipment division announced that it began deliveries of its first electric construction machinery to customers.

It’s an important step toward electrifying construction machinery.

It’s not just passenger vehicles that are getting electrified. Many other industries are also looking at advancements in batteries and electric powertrains and starting to see how it could benefit them.

Wouldn’t it be nice to reduce emissions and noise pollution and cut down on fuel costs at construction sites? Electric machinery can do that.

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has been early in pushing for the electrification of construction equipment.

In 2018, we reported on the company unveiling several new electric prototypes for an all-electric quarry project.

Last year, they announced that they will stop development of diesel engine-based compact wheel loaders and compact excavators in order to sell electric versions instead.

Today, they are announcing that they started deliveries of their electric construction equipment to actual customers.

Continue reading… “Volvo begins deliveries of its electric construction machinery”

By Daniella Genovese

Walmart announced Tuesday that it will begin using fully driverless trucks in Arkansas next year as it expands its autonomous vehicle pilot program with Gatik.

For the first time, Gatik’s multi-temperature autonomous box trucks will move customer orders on a 2-mile route between a dark store and a neighborhood market in Bentonville without the supervision of a safety driver, according to Tom Ward, Walmart senior vice president of customer products.

A dark store stocks items for fulfillment but isn’t open to the public.

The move “signifies the first ever driverless operation carried out on the supply chain middle mile for both Gatik and Walmart,” Ward said in a statement.

The development comes nearly a year after Walmart and Gatik launched an autonomous vehicle pilot to fulfill orders. Over the past year, the company says it has tested the multi-temperature trucks on a smaller scale in Bentonville in order to see how they may be able to transfer customer orders from a dark store to a live store or one that is open to the public.

The company has driven more than 70,000 operational miles in autonomous mode with a safety driver, Ward said.

Continue reading… “Walmart expands self-driving program with fully driverless vehicles”

By Sean O’Kane

Zoox, a self-driving car company that Amazon bought in June, has finally revealed its robotaxi after six years of gnarly prototypes and secrecy. And while it broadly resembles other first-generation autonomous vehicles from automakers and Silicon Valley startups, Zoox’s robotaxi has a few standout features, as well as an overall polish to it that makes obvious why Amazon thinks it might be the cornerstone of a fledgling autonomous ride-hailing service.

The autonomous “carriage-style” vehicle is an all-electric four-wheeler that seats up to four people, and is similar in appearance to fully self-driving vehicles created by other companies in the space. At just 3.63 meters long, it falls somewhere in between the big, boxy Origin robotaxi from Cruise (which is owned by General Motors) and the delivery-focused robot made by Nuro. ZOOX CLAIMS A TOP SPEED OF 75 MILES PER HOUR, HINTING AT HIGHWAY USE

To further differentiate, Zoox has spent the last few years working on outfitting its autonomous vehicle with the ability to drive both forward and backward, and side to side, or “bi-directionally.” Combined with four-wheel steering functionality, Zoox says its vehicle will be able to handle precise maneuvers like “tight curbside pickups” and “tricky U-turns.” Zoox also claims its vehicle is the first of its kind to be able to travel at up to 75 mph, a possible nod to ambitions to one day put the vehicles on the highway.  

Continue reading… “Zoox unveils a self-driving car that could become Amazon’s first robotaxi”