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Until now, the human being has moved from one place to another looking for the services he needed.
The autonomous driving revolution is about bringing these services to the human being.
Channel space in the same way we have done with electricity or light ”.
This is how Sean Zhu, head of the Internationalization area, describes what Pix Moving does, a startup that was born as a drone manufacturer, which rose to fame when it became the first Chinese company to raise half a million dollars on Kickstarter and now has specialized in the design and manufacture of chassis for autonomous vehicles.
The difference with many other companies in the sector is that their definition of a vehicle goes far beyond the traditional one. “We see the chassis as a platform on which to build countless businesses,” explains Zhu.
The manager gives as an example two American customers who have used the chassis to put wheels on a Japanese restaurant that will move around San Francisco and vending machines that will look for customers on the streets of Dallas.
Pix Moving argues that the biggest advantage of autonomous mobility is not in getting rid of drivers, but in allowing businesses to determine where their customers are and go to them.
It is the evolution of the ice cream cart or the most modern
food truck
.
“Autonomous vehicles can move to customers guided by big data systems that analyze and predict demand.
Computer vision analyzes user patterns to fine-tune systems to better meet their needs, thereby increasing productivity, ”says Zhu.
Although in the initial phase the company develops its products with an eye on large cities, in the future they will also attack non-urban areas.
"We will be able to bring to more remote places services that were previously exclusive to city centers," adds Zhu.
For Pix Moving's business, the Covid-19 pandemic has been almost a blessing.
“It has been a new spur to advance the autonomous driving revolution.
We see it in the number of orders that come to us from the Police [they develop robotic police officers who assist the agents in different tasks], the hospitality sector, commerce, and education ”, recognizes Zhu.
“Before, with ten orders we were already satisfied.
Now we add more than a thousand ”, he adds.
A good sign that they cannot cope is that they are in the process of moving to a new factory five times the size.
The chassis are produced by a 3D printer which speeds up manufacturing, but they have to be retouched by hand to reduce the rough impression the machine gives you.
Zigor aldama
It might seem logical that a technology of this type is established in cities like Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China;
Shanghai, the country's financial center, or Beijing, the political capital.
Not so: its headquarters are in an industrial pavilion on the outskirts of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province.
Until not many years ago, it was one of the most impoverished areas in the country, but the government is promoting new technologies to become an economic and development engine, and Zhu recognizes that the subsidies they receive are a great incentive.
As well as relatively lower salaries.
Of course, not everything is pink.
“Guiyang represents a challenge because the infrastructure and skilled workforce in this province are limited.
But it also shows us that, if we can carry out our project here, we can do it anywhere, ”says the manager.
Around it, various chassis with colored lights are calibrated by a dozen employees who then take them out onto the surrounding streets for testing.
They come in different sizes, and Pix Moving is already working on some capable of moving ten tons.
Modular chassis
Another of the characteristics that differentiate the company is in the manufacturing systems.
"We use a modular design that easily adapts to almost any application," Zhu explains, pointing out various modules that hide the motor, brake system or battery.
“We can redesign them quickly and cheaply, because we apply our flexible digital manufacturing model that uses artificial intelligence systems in the design and 3D printers with metallic alloys (aluminum or titanium) that eliminate intermediate processes and reduce manufacturing time to a minimum. ”, He concludes in front of the robot that prints metal parts.
The bodies of all types of commercial spaces can be attached to these chassis, which can be designed and manufactured by third parties.
The advantages of this system are obvious.
While a traditional automotive brand takes three to five years to design and produce a vehicle, Zhu says his company can cut that time down to a minimum of 45 days.
"The customer provides us with the specifications and the algorithm that we have patented produces a design that the engineers then refine before sending it to the printer," he details.
Pix Moving estimates that, in addition, spending is reduced by 75% - the average price of its chassis is 27,000 euros, but it can reach 100,000 - and that dependence on the supply chain falls by 60%.
Zhu is convinced that China, the destination for 80% of the orders that the company receives, has all the necessary elements to lead autonomous mobility.
In fact, it predicts that it will take the lead in regulation and that in less than five years it will give the green light to autonomous vehicles without a safety driver.
"The Government, which has understood the need to open up to a new type of urban planning, has much more power than that of other countries to implement this type of program," he analyzes.
The new city of Xiong'an, an urban showcase that is built to decongest Beijing, may be a pioneer, he adds.
The manager is optimistic, but he does not hide that a storm is looming on the horizon: the political confrontation between China and the United States and that threatens Chinese technology companies, especially those that, like Pix Moving, obtain financing and projects in the American superpower.
“It is clear that the situation is making it difficult to find investors.
But we do not fear so much in the technological aspect because we focus on hardware, not on software solutions, "he says.
Although Pix Moving has developed its own, it also uses Baidu's autonomous vehicle operating system.
“If Waymo, for example, opens its platform, we will use it.
That gives us a certain advantage, because the hardware trade is always simpler, and it would make it difficult for us to be vetoed for data, privacy, or intellectual property issues, "he says.