The Brno company BringAuto has successfully tested its autonomous car on the premises of the Ostrava chemical plant BorsodChem MCHZ. While last year they were operated by a remote operator, this year they were already collecting samples from laboratories without requiring remote control. It was enough for him to learn the set route and the employees no longer had to worry about his activities. All you had to do was enter a sample collection schedule.
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Now the company’s representatives will try to offer an autonomous car, the so-called delivery robot, to other customers who can use it in closed areas, said the company’s co-owner Andrea Najvárková.
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BringAuto vehicle in the premises of the Ostrava chemical plant BorsodChem MCHZ.
Photo: Jaroslav Ožana, ČTK
“As Czech law does not allow the operation of autonomously controlled cars in normal operation, we focus on operation in closed areas where these cars can drive according to the rules and requirements of the customer,” said Najvárková, who founded the company with her husband Jan.
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In earlier years, he participated in the Roboaut project, in which developers devised and tested systems for autonomous control and reached a stage where they “taught” a standard mass-produced car to drive without a driver on a set route.
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Now, in the fall, the car was driving through a large area of the chemical plant, and the worker who handed in the samples just pushed a button to let the car know it could move on. The traffic is emission-free, runs on electricity and travels 100 kilometers on a single charge. Its maximum speed is 20 kilometers per hour.
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BringAuto vehicle in the premises of the Ostrava chemical plant BorsodChem MCHZ,
Photo: Jaroslav Ožana, ČTK
Already last year, the remote control saved a fifth of the laboratory staff’s time and the sample collection process was a third cheaper. “The car will carry one ton, so it can be adjusted to carry different materials or pallets. It depends on the customer’s wishes, “said Najvárková.
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The company is also striving for further development of autonomous management and other functions. “The car can also serve as a platform for a mobile vending machine as a dispensing box or as a mobile robot for disinfecting interior spaces that people do not have to enter at all. We are trying to come up with such uses that could take over the market and would be of interest to them, “said Najvárková.
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