Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

autonomous

Baidu granted China’s ‘first-ever’ permits for commercial driverless ride-hailing services

by Leave a Comment

Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google, has secured the first permits in China to offer commercial fully driverless robotaxi services to the public on open roads.

Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service, is now authorized to collect fares for robotaxi rides – completely without human drivers in the car – in Chongqing and Wuhan, two of China’s largest megacities.

Amid increasing regulatory approval of the expansion of autonomous vehicles (AVs), the permits reflect regulatory authorities’ strong recognition and trust in the strength of Baidu’s autonomous driving technology. [Read more…] about Baidu granted China’s ‘first-ever’ permits for commercial driverless ride-hailing services

Embark demonstrates its autonomous trucks’ emergency vehicle interaction capabilities

by Leave a Comment

Embark Trucks, a developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry, has completed a public demonstration of its emergency vehicle interaction capability.

Working closely with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, Embark developed the capability for Embark-powered trucks to identify and stop for law enforcement vehicles in situations such as traffic stops, and built communication protocols and standard operating procedures between autonomous trucks and law enforcement officers.

This represents the first-ever public demonstration of an autonomous truck being pulled over by law enforcement and participating in a routine traffic stop on a public highway. [Read more…] about Embark demonstrates its autonomous trucks’ emergency vehicle interaction capabilities

Nauticus Robotics wins contract with oil giant Shell for autonomous subsea operations

by Leave a Comment

Nauticus Robotics, a Houston-based developer of subsea and surface robotic services using autonomy software, has entered into an agreement with Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies, to advance to the qualification phase for a more efficient means of acquiring subsea integrity data utilizing Nauticus’ Aquanaut and Hydronaut robotic platforms.

This collaboration will enable Shell to add an advanced tool to its subsea asset integrity management lineup with the potential to improve subsea operations.

Shell and Nauticus will collaborate with the industry’s leading inspection tooling service providers, leveraging their expertise and technology to fully integrate into Nauticus’ robotic service solution. [Read more…] about Nauticus Robotics wins contract with oil giant Shell for autonomous subsea operations

Autonomous delivery vehicle maker Faction selects Point One navigation tech

by Leave a Comment

Faction, a developer of self-driving micro-logistics and vehicle-on-demand transportation, is partnering with Point One Navigation, a specialist in precise positioning technology, to bring driverless delivery and transportation solutions to the mass market.

Faction’s DriveLink platform deeply integrates Point One’s safe positioning technology with reliable centimeter-level absolute accuracy, enabling trustworthy and efficient autonomous operations across the entire fleet.

Faction is accelerating the commercial deployment of its B2B autonomous delivery service by leveraging three-wheel production electric vehicles which are purpose-built for driverless fleet services and supported by teleoperation. [Read more…] about Autonomous delivery vehicle maker Faction selects Point One navigation tech

Ottonomy closes $3.3 million seed funding round

by Leave a Comment

Ottonomy has closed its seed funding round of $3.3 million, bringing its total funding to date to $4.9 million.

The funding is planned to support the scale of Ottobots for fully autonomous airport, retail and restaurant deliveries with its robots.

The funding round is led by Pi Ventures who back deep tech startups. Connetic Ventures and Branded Hospitality Ventures and the Founder & CEO of Addverb Technologies, Sangeet Kumar, also joined this round; making the group a dynamic mix from retail, food and robotics industry investors for Ottonomy’s seed round. [Read more…] about Ottonomy closes $3.3 million seed funding round

Autonomous aviation company Xwing expands its air cargo operations to 400 weekly flights

by Leave a Comment

Autonomous aviation company Xwing is marking what it describes as “significant milestones”, including the expansion of its commercial cargo operations under FAA CFR Part 135 Air Carrier certificate, the addition of FAA CFR Part 145 certificates and “rapid company growth”.

Over the last 12 months, Xwing has more than tripled its team to 180 employees.

Xwing has completed the acquisition of Martinaire Aviation, a Texas-based FAR Part 135 air cargo carrier with over 40 years of experience throughout the United States. [Read more…] about Autonomous aviation company Xwing expands its air cargo operations to 400 weekly flights

Pony.ai and SANY to mass produce autonomous trucks

by Leave a Comment

Pony.ai, an autonomous driving technology company, has formed a strategic joint venture with SANY Heavy Truck, a subsidiary of SANY Heavy Industry, a Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer and the third largest heavy equipment manufacturer globally.

Pony.ai and SANY say they will collaborate to create a “world-leading autonomous truck brand”.

The two companies say they will “deeply integrate” Pony.ai’s “virtual driver” with SANY’s technical accumulation in the field of wire-controlled chassis and vehicle development to jointly develop high-end heavy trucks that are automotive-grade and have L4-class redundancies. These trucks will inaugurate the future of truck logistics transportation.

The joint venture plans to start small-scale deliveries of the robotrucks in 2022 and 2023. Mass production of the L4 truck will commence in 2024 and within a few years will reach an annual production of around 10,000 trucks. [Read more…] about Pony.ai and SANY to mass produce autonomous trucks

Avidbots and Maplesoft partner to design new autonomous commercial cleaning systems

by Leave a Comment

Avidbots, a maker of commercial robotic cleaning systems, and Maplesoft, a provider of modeling and calculation software for engineering and research, have agreed a strategic partnership to “bring more innovation to autonomous cleaning robot design for commercial customers”.

Warehouses and retail businesses are frequently turning to tech to provide efficient, cost-effective cleaning options for essential commercial cleaning tasks, say the companies.

Finding efficient cleaning solutions has been made challenging by unpredictable staffing and the additional Covid-related surface disinfection steps. [Read more…] about Avidbots and Maplesoft partner to design new autonomous commercial cleaning systems

Kodiak Robotics expands autonomous freight service to Florida with USPS partner

by Leave a Comment

Kodiak Robotics, a self-driving trucking company, has expanded its autonomous freight service to Florida with 10 Roads Express, a provider of time sensitive surface transportation for the US Postal Service.

To launch this partnership, Kodiak completed a round trip consisting of four commercial deliveries, including a coast-to-coast commercial run.

A Kodiak autonomous truck carried 10 Roads Express freight nearly 5,600 miles from San Antonio, Texas; to the San Francisco Bay Area; to Jacksonville, Florida; and back to San Antonio. The route was completed in just 114 hours. [Read more…] about Kodiak Robotics expands autonomous freight service to Florida with USPS partner

Embark Trucks completes autonomous vehicle testing in snowy conditions

by Leave a Comment

Embark Trucks, a developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry, says it has successfully completed on-road testing in snowy conditions in Montana, USA.

The testing, which Embark announced earlier this year, was conducted to demonstrate the performance and safety of Embark’s patent-pending Vision Map Fusion (VMF) technology in geographies that experience severe winter weather.

Results from the testing demonstrate that in approximately 90 percent of runs through the snowy conditions under study – which could result in delays for HD map-based autonomous driving systems – VMF should operate successfully, or pause and resume travel within acceptable shipper delivery windows. [Read more…] about Embark Trucks completes autonomous vehicle testing in snowy conditions