The administrators of Volta Trucks have announced the sale of the business and assets to Volta Commercial Vehicles Limited, owned by Luxor Capital Group.

Commercial electric truck manufacturer Volta Trucks Ltd was the UK subsidiary of Swedish parent company, Volta Trucks AB, which filed for bankruptcy in October 2023.

Andrea Jakes, managing director at administrators Alvarez & Marsal, said, “We’re pleased to have safeguarded the future of Volta Trucks by facilitating its acquisition by Volta Commercial Vehicles Ltd.”

At the time of filing for bankruptcy, Volta Trucks cited challenging market conditions following the bankruptcy of its battery supplier Proterra.

Continue reading Volta Trucks sold to Volta Commercial Vehicles at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Autonomous delivery specialist Clevon has partnered with one of Lithuania’s leading grocery chains, IKI, to bring Europe’s first fleet of autonomous robot carriers (ARCs) onto public roads.

Three driverless carriers will offer daily commercial delivery services in the Vilnius city center area and will be operated by the last-mile transportation platform LastMile. Orders will be collected at the IKI store on Mindaugas Street and delivered for free directly to customers’ homes. The ARCs that will deliver the goods have secure compartments of different sizes, suitable for smaller and larger online grocery orders. The fleet of robots can deliver seven customer orders in a single run in the capital’s New Town and Old Town districts.

Continue reading Clevon deploys Europe’s first fleet of autonomous carriers on public roads at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Tech startup Ottonomy has showcased its fleet of autonomous delivery robots, designed for both indoor and outdoor environments, at CES 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ottonomy’s Ottobots have been delivering food and retail items to passengers at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) since December 2021. The service is being delivered in partnership with restaurant automation technology provider Presto.

Ritukar Vijay, CEO of Ottonomy, said, “We are excited to unveil Ottobots at our first CES. The pandemic has provided Ottobots a catalyst enabling a series of partnerships that allowed us to launch fully autonomous delivery for indoor deliveries, curbside deliveries and last-mile deliveries.”

Ottobots operate by creating a digital map of a given serviceable area.

Continue reading Ottonomy debuts autonomous delivery robots at CES ahead of US rollout at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Chinese e-commerce marketplace JD.com has sent more than 100 autonomous delivery vehicles to Shanghai to be used for the last-mile delivery of PPE and various customer orders.

The entire city of Shanghai has been under strict lockdown since April 5 as part of China’s latest ‘Zero-Covid’ strategy. The vehicles can carry up to 200kg of goods and drive 100km on a single charge, providing much needed supplies to mobile cabin hospitals and communities under lockdown.

Around 50 indoor delivery robots developed by JD Logistics will also be transported to Shanghai to support the delivery of meals and nucleic acid test samples in the mobile cabin hospitals.

Continue reading JD deploys 100 autonomous delivery vehicles to aid Shanghai residents under lockdown at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have launched a study into the impact of weather conditions on electric autonomous vehicles, and how the design can be altered to improve efficiency during different conditions.

The NCAR study is part of a larger three-year project, led by Western Michigan University and funded by the US Department of Energy, that looks to improve energy efficiency in self-driving cars and trucks.

Curtis Walker, project scientist at NCAR, said, “Autonomous vehicles are going to use a lot more power because so much processing is happening on board. Our goal is to determine how we can use weather information to help out the computing load and reduce the power consumption.”

Engineers already know that cold weather can substantially reduce the range of an electric vehicle, as well as lead to longer recharging times.

Continue reading NCAR to investigate impact of weather conditions on autonomous electric vehicles at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Autonomous tech startup StreetDrone has provided a preview of its Wilko-branded Pix-E delivery vehicle following an investment by the retailer last summer.

The Pix-e is a small road-going electric delivery vehicle capable of Level 4 autonomous operations. It has eight secure lockers that can only be opened by retailer and customer using associated app technology. It is targeted to enter service in the UK in 2023.

According to StreetDrone, home deliveries are set to double by 2030 meaning that electric driverless technology such as Pix-E has the potential to remove up to two billion car journeys dedicated to shopping from UK roads every year.

Continue reading StreetDrone unveils Wilko-branded autonomous delivery vehicle at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

FedEx has begun piloting autonomous delivery trucks in collaboration with autonomous technology developer Aurora and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer Paccar.

The partnership is leveraging FedEx’s linehaul trucking operations using Paccar trucks equipped with Aurora’s Autonomous Vehicle Platform (AVP). The pilot began on September 22 and is actively testing autonomous operations on FedEx parcel routes between Dallas and Houston. Running the route multiple times each week, the trucks autonomously complete nearly 800km for each round trip, with a backup driver for additional safety.

Earlier this year, Aurora and Paccar announced a strategic partnership to build and deploy autonomous trucks at scale.

Continue reading FedEx pilots autonomous delivery trucks in Texas at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Chinese autonomous vehicle operator WeRide has unveiled a new Level 4 self-driving delivery van, developed in partnership with Jiangling Motors (JMC) and carrier ZTO Express.

The three companies will jointly undertake the Robovan’s commercial pilot operations with the view of designing purpose-built models for mass production. The Robovan’s design is based on JMC’s battery electric vehicle (BEV) model combined with WeRide’s full-stack software and hardware solutions.

Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide, said, “WeRide has always emphasized that autonomous driving technologies should be used effectively in reality to serve the society. With the introduction of Robovan, the very first L4 self-driving cargo van in China, we have heralded a new era of autonomous driving for urban logistics in the country.

Continue reading WeRide partners with ZTO Express to develop L4 self-driving delivery van at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Auto parts developer Continental has entered into a collaborative partnership with manufacturing firm 3M to assess the infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) interface between infrastructure-related objects and technologies (such as pavement markings, conspicuity film, signs and landmarks), and autonomous and connected vehicles.

According to Continental, current infrastructure often lacks the consistency, uniformity, performance specifications and maintenance standards needed to optimize the perception and localization capabilities of automated vehicles. While optimized infrastructure solutions may not be possible in the short term, the long-term goal of the partnership is to find a more balanced solution.

Continental’s history in automotive safety systems, combined with 3M’s innovative expertise and leadership in roadway technologies, will enable the two companies to collaborate on improving the current transportation infrastructure and work toward the goal of more balanced and intelligent infrastructure.

Continue reading Continental and 3M to study interface between infrastructure and AVs at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Carsten Maple, professor of cyber systems engineering at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, UK, looks at some of the obstacles faced when creating a connected mobility network, and how they might be solved

The concept of widespread connected and automated mobility (CAM) is quickly becoming something of a reality thanks to a national and global push to develop the next generation of transport solutions. An integral part of the UK government’s Road to Zero strategy, CAM is expected to become widely deployed across the nation and will be a key driver behind ambitions to eventually achieve zero accidents, zero congestion and zero emissions on the road.

Continue reading Developing the next generation of transport solutions at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.