Finnish company Trombia Technologies has unveiled the world’s first, high-power, autonomous street sweeper, the Trombia Free, which is claimed to use less than 15% of the power required by currently available heavy suction sweeping technologies. This, the company says, unlocks the potential for mass-electrification and carbon-neutralization of one of the heaviest vehicle technologies currently in use in the cities globally.
“We think about the more than three million CO2 metric tons of carbon emissions that high-power diesel-fueled suction street sweepers around the world produce annually. The current vehicle technology relies on suction performance that was invented in the 1950s. We simply cannot enter 2020’s green and sustainable era with such outdated solution. With the globally patented Trombia technology we are able to take down the power requirement dramatically, so turning it into a beautiful and powerful, electrified and autonomous device has been an exciting journey to this day,” explained Antti Nikkanen, CEO, Trombia Technologies.
The company says it has been developing its sweeping technology since 2013 and entered the market with sweeper attachments in 2017. Its autonomous product is scheduled to be rolled-out via a pilot program in 2021 with production planned for 2022.
“Starting in January 2021, we start a 12-month commercial pilot program for different applications. This is mainly to develop a product and model range for different applications. Trombia Free was developed below-the-radar in pilots with the Nordic European parking lot operator Aimo Park and for harder conditions with piling machinery manufacturer Junttan’s industrial plants. Now we move forward with increased focus on the smart city sector,” commented Jaakko Happonen, founder, Trombia Technologies.
The units are equipped with an all-weather autonomous, lidar-based, machine vision technology. The company claims its advanced algorithm development enables accurate and safe localization in all-weather conditions.