July 29, 2022: -On Thursday, Self-driving tech start-up Pony.ai announced that it plans to mass produce autonomous moving trucks in China with equipment manufacturing big Sany Heavy Industry.
Annual production is set to reach nearly 10,000 trucks “within a few years,” according to a press release. Small-scale deliveries will start this year, and mass production will begin in 2024.
The trucks are slated to come with “Level 4” autonomous driving technology, allowing full self-driving on highways and urban roads, according to Pony.ai. “L4″ is part of an industry category system that designates complete self-driving under distinct conditions.
Under current rules in China, the robot trucks won’t be able to operate fully autonomously.
Pony.ai said it only has testing access in Beijing and Guangzhou for autonomous trucks. But the group expects to operate L4 trucks in China as regulations develop.
Pony.ai’s autonomous driving system uses the Nvidia Drive Orin chip, similar to several Chinese electric car companies offering driver-assisted driving technology.
Some, but not all, of the planned trucks will be “new energy vehicles,” a category that includes electric vehicles.
Pony.ai declined Thursday to share additional information about the cost per truck and whether the trucks would only be available in China.
Sany has offices globally, while Pony.ai also operates in the U.S. The robotruck mass production deal is part of a strategic joint venture between Pony.ai and Sany Heavy Truck, a Sany subsidiary.
Analysts generally expect robot trucks to take off more quickly than robotaxis due to the more uniform nature of truck routes along highways. The daily truck drives typically last for hours versus far shorter taxi rides.
Pony.ai, which operates robotaxis, declared autonomous trucks could save 10% to 20% of energy reached with traditional trucks.
Companies from Daimler to Walmart are testing self-driving trucks. Tesla has announced a partly autonomous electric truck called Semi that has run into production and delivery delays.
Walmart said in November that for about three months, it had operated two self-driving trucks for 12 hours a day on a 7-mile route between two Walmart facilities in the U.S.
In China, automaker Geely revealed plans in the previous year to roll out an electric truck in 2024, with completely autonomous driving capability in 2030.
We provide the insights on leaders who are responsible for taking their organization to new heights, all the while bringing together a group of talented individuals.
AspenTech, a Massachusetts-based company, plays a pivotal role in the oil and gas industry by leveraging cutting-edge technologies, including AI (artificial intelligence). Let’s delve into how AspenTech contributes to this dynamic sector
It’s no secret that oil and gas is a boom-and-bust industry. Production is currently up, projected to increase to 13.7 million barrels daily in 2024. But this won’t last forever. Whether production is up or down, the key to maximizing production, optimizing efficiency, and taking advantage of increased profits is innovation, digital transformation,and automation.For stakeholders looking to deliver safer, more efficient, and cheaper energy, innovation and automation must be a top priority. Those who fall behind in the race to innovate, ultimately, run the risk of losing market share.
Talking to Thomas Hundertmark, a senior partner in McKinsey’s Houston office, Darren Woods is chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil made some crucial points and also gave some insights on what the conglomerate was doing in order to save the climate.
When Darren Woods took the reigns of ExxonMobil six years ago, no one could have anticipated that the Kansas resident would soon face what Texas oil patch vets call “a whole pile of trouble.” Three years later, the oil market collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which dealt the 140-year-old oil organization its first annual upset in four decades.
Today oil and gas producers face severe regulatory and public relations obstacles due to the concern with greenhouse gases and resource depletion. Calgary-based start-up, Advanced Upstream (“AU”), has been disrupting the oil and gas industry with simple and reliable innovative technologies. AU’s products help the oil and gas producers to enhance energy production while reducing the corresponding environmental impact. By decreasing personnel and time on site, and lowering overall HSE risks across the board, the clients can see a notable improvement in their ESG rating, contributing to their bottom line.
Jasmin Staiblin, Chief Executive Officer of ABB Switzerland, says, “Global energy consumption continues to grow and, if left unabated, will lead to an ever-greater risk of irreversibly changing our climate. To take advantage of more sustainable energy sources, the energy landscape is in a state of profound change to allow the integration of increasing amounts of renewable energy sources into the grid, to allow infrastructure to run more intelligently and efficiently, and to ensure the supply of energy is available at all times.
The activation of the Fallon Two Rock solar farm project has recently bolstered the Californian energy …