Applied EV, an Australian autonomous vehicle company, is partnering with UK scaleup company Oxbotica to flesh out its autonomous car.
Autonomous vehicles are vehicles that work without the need for a human driver, inside or outside. You’ve likely heard of autonomous vehicles through Tesla’s work in the area, however, Tesla’s technology has been surrounded by controversy in recent months.
Set aside that controversy for a moment, as we consider that autonomous vehicles could have a delivery driving future through companies like Applied EV.
“This exciting development positions Australian developed innovations at the heart of the sector and the forefront of delivering AV technology on the streets of Europe. We’re excited to see how this world-class product will continue to support the market needs,” said Julian Broadbent, the founder and CEO of Applied EV. He later added that this is a “historic moment” for the automotive industry.
When I showed my editor Applied EV’s autonomous vehicle, the Blanc Robot, she thought it was quite cute. You know what, bravo Applied EV! You’ve developed quite an adorable box on wheels that looks like it belongs in Cyberpunk 2077 or Detroit: Become Human. It was developed and built in Australia, but tested overseas. It’s designed to be modular and suit different purposes (mostly surrounding delivery).
It’s a prototype delivery robot. The idea is that you could order something, be it through an app, online or through a company that has bought one of these delivery robots, and it would immediately be dispatched to your address. Arriving, it would contain the package and drop it off to you (you’d likely need to walk out of your house and pick up your package to complete the delivery). In the above picture, the box part was developed by Oxbotica and the below frame was developed by Applied EV (aka the modular component).
That being said, deliveries are one of its applications, of which there are likely many, considering its modular design. Components can be lifted off the frame of the delivery robot and it can be put to other uses.
The prototype Blanc Robot has been trialled off-road and on-road in the UK, Europe and North America over the past two years, but going forward, Oxbotica will assist in developing the first commercial-scale vehicle.
That means, one day, we might be caught in traffic with these driverless cars.
“The Blanc Robot – a zero-occupancy, all-electric, fully autonomous prototype – is exactly the new-type vehicle that will form the mainstay of the transportation industry for decades to come,” said Paul Newman, the founder and CTO of Oxbotica.
“Our partnership with Applied EV was fundamental in developing a vehicle that could achieve this milestone. Oxbotica is changing the way people and goods move, and the Blanc Robot is part of this journey.”
You can read more about the Blanc Robot, and their Australian autonomous car, here.