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AppliedEV and Oxbotica combine solutions to built a fully autonomous, multi-purpose electric vehicle. | Image credit AppliedEV

Oxbotica and AppliedEV have announced a collaboration to develop a fully autonomous, multi-purpose electric vehicle capable of being deployed in a wide range of environments for a variety of commercial applications. The project combines Oxbotica’s autonomous vehicle software with AppliedEV’s EV-Skateboard platform. The first application for the new platform will be Industrial logistics and goods delivery.

The AppliedEV platform, Blanc Robot, is exactly that: a “blank” mobility platform designed to accept any number of payload configurations. The platform is modular and fully configurable for specific applications, such as logistics or industrial.

The AppliedEV platform is an all-wheel-drive system, operable in either an off-road or on-road specification. Battery size is matched to the duty and charge cycles, with total efficiency up to 10 miles/kWh.

Oxbotica provides a full suite of Universal Autonomy software that is fully modular, has low compute power requirements and can use any lidar and/or vision sensor suite for localization and perception. The solution requires no external infrastructure or third party maps, and works in fully GPS denied environments. The software package includes mapping, simulation, audit, risk management and insurance.

Paul Newman, Founder & CTO of Oxbotica, said: “Working in collaboration with AppliedEV to provide the market with an autonomy solution comprising both hardware and software with the highest safety standards is a singular and unifying goal. We have an ambitious deployment goal over the coming years, driven by an extraordinary market appetite for a world-class product.”

Julian Broadbent, Founder & CEO of AppliedEV, said: “Oxbotica and AEV both see an opportunity in the market to come together with a unique offering of strong commercial outcomes as early as 12 months. The real value of automated vehicles is to operate without the presence of a driver with high levels of safety. There are not many instances where you will find full autonomous vehicles in the market doing a real job, with real economics. Removing the driver and passengers reduces the risk and creates new levels of value and service.”

Alex Harvey, Chief of Advanced Technology of Ocado Technology commented on the collaboration: “We are really excited and supportive of this collaboration between Oxbotica and AppliedEV as we see it as an important step on our journey to developing advanced autonomous mobility solutions for the Ocado Smart Platform.”

Listen to this episode of The Robot Report Podcast where we interview Oxbotica’s VP of technology Ben Upcroft.