Market trends and business perspectives
Continental, a company which provides a range of automotive solutions such as tyres and advanced driver assistance systems, has been showing off its new autonomous minibus.
The company calls the vehicle Cube, short for Continental Urban Mobility Experience, and describes it as a “robo-taxi”.
This particular trial of the driverless minibus took place in Frankfurt, Germany. [Read more…] about Continental sends out autonomous minibus for a driverless drive
Bharati Robotics Systems has been showing off its new autonomous industrial floor cleaning robots.
The company says the small vehicle saves labour costs and increases productivity by up to 200 per cent, and cleans the floor better than humans, or the “highest quality of cleaning”.
The robot’s battery lasts up to four hours on one charge and it has a smartphone interface through which it can be monitored and controlled. [Read more…] about Bharati Robotics shows off autonomous industrial cleaning robot
The market for electric cars in China is huge already and it’s growing at almost an exponential rate annually.
Commentators in the country include electric cars in the category called “new energy vehicles”, which also refers to hybrid energy vehicles, and are saying the market will be further accelerated as a result of government backing.
Edward Tse, CEO of Gao Feng management consultancy, says: “With the issuance in April 2017 of the Automotive Industry Mid to Long Term Development Plan, the Ministry for Industry and Information Technology provides guiding principles for the development of China’s auto industry for the next decade. [Read more…] about China’s electric car market given a jump-start by government and looks set to boost lithium industry
Autonomous electric vehicle maker Navya is set to open its first US production plant. Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Ann Arbor Spark are to collaborate with Navya on site selection and talent recruitment.
In a joint statement, Navya, MEDC and Ann Arbor Spark said the Michigan plant will be located in the city of Saline, Michigan with a 20,000+ sq ft facility.
Navya plans to build approximately 25 of its Arma fully autonomous and electric shuttle vehicles at the plant before the close of 2017. [Read more…] about Electric autonomous vehicle maker Navya to open first US production plant
Continental has showcased its “Cruising Chauffeur”, an self-driving car platform which provides an insight into the company’s vision of the future of what it calls “highly automated driving” on highways.
Highly automated driving on highways is no longer just a dream, says the company, but now a reality.
Continental started testing systems for automated driving on public roads back in 2012 in Nevada, and was the first automotive supplier to receive the state’s license to test automated vehicles. [Read more…] about Continental demonstrates ‘Cruising Chauffeur’, its vision of autonomous driving
Boston has become one of the main centres for robotics technologies in recent years, with many well-known companies emerging from the area.
Perhaps with this in mind, the Toyota Research Institute decided to showcase its latest developments in autonomous vehicle technology, something it’s calling “Platform 2.0” – basically, its new driverless car – to attendees at the Robotics: Science and Systems conference at MIT.
“This is the first time that we are showing the car off to the Boston-area robotics community,” said a spokesman for TRI. “This new advanced safety research vehicle is the first autonomous testing platform developed entirely by TRI, and reflects the rapid progress of our autonomous driving program.” [Read more…] about Toyota showcases its new advanced autonomous car platform to Boston robotics community
Creative Office Properties and Dasher Lawless Automation broke ground last month on a subterranean, 277 stall AutoParkit System.
It is the largest fully automated parking structure below grade in the US It is longer than a football field and features multiple load bays to service both tenants and guests.
The system also exclusively features automated electric vehicle charging stalls and automated bicycle storage. [Read more…] about Work starts on ‘largest’ fully automated parking structure in the US
One of the main reasons why highly-sophisticated sensors have come down in price to affordable levels in the past few years is smartphones.
The economies of scale achieved through having to produce literally billions of sensors for smartphones has established a strong manufacturing base for sensing technology.
And from that base, sensors are now driving many different markets, perhaps most interesting of which is the automotive market. [Read more…] about Energised by smartphones, sensors are driving the automotive industry
NTT is working with Toyota to develop a global telecommunications platform for connected cars.
Toyota is one of the largest automakers in the world, while NTT is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.
The new partnership will see both companies sharing relevant technologies, knowledge and expertise to create a connected car platform. [Read more…] about NTT to develop global platform for Toyota connected vehicles
Harvest Croo Robotics is field testing an autonomous vehicle designed to help plant and pick strawberries, according to a report on ThePacker.com.
The new vehicle looks rather unlike your typical farm vehicle, and is designed to straddle six strawberry beds as it moves along. It uses GPS navigation, LiDAR vision and carries 16 robots which will do the actual planting and picking of the strawberries.
The robots will use a proprietary vision system which will identify which strawberries are ready to be picked (probably based on colour as robots can’t smell or taste yet as far as we know). Picked strawberries will then be moved to the platform level for further inspection and grading. [Read more…] about Harvest Croo Robotics field tests autonomous strawberry-picking vehicle
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