AV street sweepers and more

A Chinese company planning mass production of commercial autonomous vehicle (AV) technology in street cleaners, passenger cars and logistics vehicles has teamed with Velodyne to use its lidar sensors.

The sensors are being used in all Idriverplus self-driving vehicles to help with safe navigation and reliable operation.

“We have a vision for the future that autonomous driving is not only a means of transportation, but also a necessity of life,” Idriverplus chief executive officer Dr Zhang Dezhao says.

Viggo is an unmanned electric Idriverplus street cleaning vehicle which can automatically track and avoid obstacles.

More than 100 of them are in universities, factories, parks, an amusement park and city streets in China’s provinces and cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Hunan.

Idriverplus is developing two commercial autonomous car solutions; an SAE Level 4 vehicle that provides autonomous driving in closed parks and some public roads, and an advanced driver assistance system solution for automatic parking and highway follow-up.

Its Wobida product applies self-driving technology to the logistics industry.

Idriverplus’ AVs have done more than 400,000km in testing.

“Idriverplus is trailblazing the commercialisation of driverless technology in China,” Velodyne Lidar executive director Wei Weng says.