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Cyngn supplies its autonomous tugger to Coats Company facility

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Cyngn has initiated a production implementation with Coats Company, the largest full-line wheel service equipment manufacturer in North America.

The installation of Cyngn’s DriveMod Tugger – a self-driving industrial vehicle that can haul goods indoors and outdoors – is under way at Coats’ 150,000+ square foot manufacturing facility in La Vergne, Tennessee.

This deployment will leverage Cyngn’s previously launched next-generation DriveMod Tugger, which features an increased towing capacity from 6,000 lbs to 12,000 lbs. [Read more…] about Cyngn supplies its autonomous tugger to Coats Company facility

Applied EV unveils ‘autonomous-only’ logistics vehicle

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Applied EV has revealed its new “Blanc Robot”, which it describes as “a unique vehicle designed for autonomous-only operations”.

Manufactured with no cabin and a configurable table-top chassis for a variety of jobs, the Blanc Robot can help solve global driver shortages in last mile logistics and is capable of operating in industrial applications where tasks by a traditional driver may be considered dull, dirty, difficult or dangerous.

Applied EV is ready to complete the assembly of the first 100 Blanc Robot vehicles, with all the body structures manufactured by Suzuki Motor Corporation, now shipped from Japan. This is an important milestone towards mass production. [Read more…] about Applied EV unveils ‘autonomous-only’ logistics vehicle

Fleet Diagnostic Systems: Revolutionizing Fleet Management

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When you think about managing a fleet of vehicles, you might stop and think: “Man, that’s a tricky job!”

C’mon, between maintenance costs, keeping track of vehicle performance, and avoiding breakdowns, it’s a lot to juggle.

But with the right tools, fleet management is relatively easy.

How? [Read more…] about Fleet Diagnostic Systems: Revolutionizing Fleet Management

General Motors to shut down autonomous car developer Cruise despite $10 billion spend

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General Motors is planning to close down Cruise, its autonomous vehicle technology development business, after the startup had racked up expenses of approximately $10 billion while generating revenues of only $500 million.

The way GM announced the closure on its website was that it plans to “realign its autonomous driving strategy and prioritize development of advanced driver assistance systems on a path to fully autonomous personal vehicles”.

GM will build on the progress of Super Cruise, the company’s hands-off, eyes-on driving feature, now offered on more than 20 GM vehicle models and currently logging over 10 million miles per month. [Read more…] about General Motors to shut down autonomous car developer Cruise despite $10 billion spend

Embotech receives $27 million in funding to expand its autonomous tow truck business

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Embotech, an innovator in autonomous driving solutions for industrial logistics, has received CHF23.5 million (approximately $27 million) in Series B funding to help the company scale its autonomous tow truck business.

The company calls its solutions “Automated Vehicle Marshalling” (AVM) and “Autonomous Terminal Tractor” (ATT). The plan is to expand in Europe initially, and then in the United States, Middle East, and Asia.

The funding round is led by Emerald Technology Ventures and Yttrium, with additional funds from BMW i Ventures, Nabtesco Technology Ventures, Sustainable Forward Capital Fund, RKK VC and existing investors.

Embotech, short for embedded optimization technologies, has already secured landmark multi-year rollout contracts for its AVM solution in finished vehicle logistics and its ATT solution for port and yard logistics applications. [Read more…] about Embotech receives $27 million in funding to expand its autonomous tow truck business

Drev and Kollmorgen to develop ‘groundbreaking’ AGV with integrated contamination control technology

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As gigafactories and recycling plants scale to meet rising demands, the need for innovative solutions that address both safety and efficiency continues to grow.

To meet this demand, Drev and Kollmorgen Autonomous Mobile Solutions have agreed to jointly develop “a groundbreaking Automated Guided Vehicle with integrated contamination control technology”.

Designed to operate in large, highly restricted and hazardous environments, this AGV aims to ensure the safety of workers by operating where humans should not, while at the same time recovering valuable raw materials that would otherwise be discarded as dust. [Read more…] about Drev and Kollmorgen to develop ‘groundbreaking’ AGV with integrated contamination control technology

Automating the Fleet Management Sector: Cameras, Tachograph Downloads, and More

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Companies with road vehicle fleets are prime targets for automation. Fleet managers often have to control many processes, from dispatching drivers to overseeing fuel consumption patterns.

To take care of it all, they’re utilising fleet management software, which has evolved to do more than just store data or track vehicle locations.

Fleet camera systems, remote tachograph downloads, and driver behaviour analysis are just some of the automation innovations that are transforming different vehicle-related industries. Let’s discover how!

Cameras that filter footage

These days, many companies install cameras on their vehicles for a variety of reasons, such as to get accident footage, help drivers check blindspots or for live monitoring in general.

As you can imagine, if a camera records the full journey of a long-haul truck, there’s going to be a whole lot of material to go through to find that one relevant moment.

That’s where automation kicks in – modern fleet cameras have sensors that can detect noteworthy events, such as collisions. With proper fleet management software, you can remotely view that specific moment, complete with metadata, like who was the driver, when it happened, and where.

To save even more time, fleet managers can set up and receive notifications when cameras detect relevant events. Humans are left with the most important part of the process – deciding what to do about it.

In some cases, that would mean quickly jumping to the camera’s livestream to find out more, while in other situations the material would be stored for future reference.

Automated tachograph downloads

The tachograph is an essential part of the long-haul transportation industry. It records the duration of drivers’ work and rest periods, among other things.

Where things get complicated, however, is that the data generated by a tachograph needs to be downloaded to an external storage every once in a while. Imagine having to visit hundreds of trucks and manually connect to every tachograph, then keeping the data on a specific computer in an office!

Here automation can provide a huge benefit to trucking companies. If a vehicle is equipped with a compatible telematics device, it can receive the data from the tachograph and then upload it to fleet management software.

The process is completely automatic, the download intervals can be customised, and data can be easily presented to authorities. This process is called remote tachograph download and is a no-brainer for larger fleets.

Targeted performance analysis

For the time being, most fleets still employ drivers behind the wheel. To improve their performance in terms of efficiency and safety, managers need information on what exactly to improve.

How to get it? You can, of course, sit next to them during daily routes and make notes, but what if there are hundreds of drivers? Time for automation!

Like tachograph downloads, driver behaviour analysis utilises an advanced telematics device installed on a vehicle, and a fleet management platform. The device can detect various driving actions and events, such as the usage of cruise control, sudden braking, aggressive manoeuvring, and more.

This data gets sent to the fleet management platform where it’s analysed and presented in an easy-to-understand way. Depending on the configuration, the system will assign a better or worse score for each driver. Then it’s up to the fleet manager to act on this data – provide coaching, award a bonus, and so on.

What’s more, driving behaviour analysis can be supplemented with data from other systems. Commonly, companies track fuel consumption of a vehicle and check how it fluctuates depending on who’s behind the wheel.

Another option is to use the previously mentioned fleet cameras in conjunction with a telematics device, giving fleet managers a full picture – video events plus practical driving parameters.

Automation is here to stay

These three areas – cameras, tachograph downloads, and driving performance analysis – are not the only ones when it comes to automation in the fleet management sector.

There’s an automated alert for just about any situation that’s worth alerting about; there’s automated working time tracking so drivers don’t need to worry about clocking in and out; there are even systems that can automatically assign drivers and plan the best routes for them based on a variety of factors.

All that is to say – to stay competitive, you need to start automating your fleet management!

May Mobility launches autonomous shuttle service at Toyota site

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May Mobility, an autonomous driving technology company, has launch a corporate autonomous vehicle service that will utilize the Toyota-manufactured e-Palette vehicle.

The mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) vehicle platform will be operated in Toyota’s Miyata factory, in Fukuoka, Japan. The full name of the site is the Toyota Motor Kyushu (TMK) Miyata factory.

The service uses a custom version of the e-Palette battery-electric vehicle and will provide an efficient and effective transit option for factory employees and guests. [Read more…] about May Mobility launches autonomous shuttle service at Toyota site

May Mobility expands autonomous vehicle operations to second US city

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May Mobility, an autonomous driving technology company, has launched its second driverless operation in the US, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The company says that testing its “driver-out” system in Ann Arbor is the next step toward expanding autonomous driver-out vehicle services commercially across the US and Japan alongside key partners, including Toyota, NTT and Lyft.

The driver-out testing in Ann Arbor involves significant complexity of traffic, weather patterns and pedestrian density, and operates in and around approximately 2 square miles of Ann Arbor surface streets. [Read more…] about May Mobility expands autonomous vehicle operations to second US city

Beam unveils new underwater robot for wind farm operations

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Beam, a provider of high-technology offshore wind services, has launched a new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

Scout, a concept expected to enter the market in 2025, will put the power of subsea inspection directly in the hands of wind farm operators.

The company says this is “an important step” in Beam’s journey to develop cutting-edge underwater technologies that transform the viability and scalability of offshore wind. [Read more…] about Beam unveils new underwater robot for wind farm operations