PIX Metal 3D-Printed Drive-by-wire Chassis Unveiled at Michelin Movin’On Summit 2019
Procrastination really delayed this post, which should have been ready two weeks ago. But now thinking back, the memory and onsite adrenaline vibes are still there, vivid and fresh, like the the lingering of a wonderful melody, triggering my first impression of Movin’On Summit.
Movin’On Summit x PIX Moving
Movin’On Summit 2019 linked with PIX Moving back to late March, when we got the announcement email for the results and were selected as one of the final 40 global startups. After a few phone calls and email interactions, we were officially in for this international summit.
Movin’On Summit is a world summit on sustainable mobility, whose objective is to move from ambition to action. It explores new and actionable solutions to address global challenges that will define the future of mobility. Movin’On Summit 2019 focused on solutions for multimodal ecosystems, which dived into five themes: Decarbonization and Air Quality, Multimodal Urban Transit and Society, Innovative Technologies, Good Transportation and Multimodality, and Circular Economy, each representing the ingenuity approach for sustainable mobility.
As a self-driving startup dedicated to rebuilding the cities with autonomous mobility, PIX Moving was selected within the themes of Innovative Technologies and Good Transportation & Multimodality for Movin’On Summit 2019. PIX builds robo-vehicle that consists of multi-functional pod and self-driving chassis. With modular design and innovative manufacturing approach, PIX integrates living, working and entertainment spaces on all kinds of robo-vehicles, making spaces connected, sharable and on-demand. Pod + chassis design enables the flexible modification between autonomous mini hotel, self-driving coffee car, unattended vending car, multi-purpose self-driving room, last-mile robo-delivery and more. The vision and future we hope to build echoed the essence of the event: using innovative new technology to bring new possibilities to future mobility.
PIX Presence & 2.5 Days in Montreal
My first time and first day in Canada was greeted by cold wind blows and zealous bus driver. The shuttle from airport to hotel was filled with Movin’On Summit attendances flooded together from airport terminals worldwide. Chatting, discussion and breeze-shooting of different languages knitted together into a great symphony. I know a great surprise was in store for me on the next day.
Event Skyview
Let me Zoom-Out for a sec: The first day of Movin’On Summit 2019 was absolutely dazzling. It was like going to a conference prepared to be seated there for three hours listening to a senior smart guy lecturing about how the future AI would be, yet it turned out to be a super cool-looking young man on Fury Road Car with his fingers on a firing guitar, raping about the upcoming mobility paradigm shifting .
Zoom-In: Mobility Experiences, Startup Show & Tell, Working Sessions, Interactive Workshops, Thought-provoking Labs, Keynote Speeches, Panel Talks, Braindates, Road Tests and Micromobility Track, Immersive Hardware Devices, First-hands-on Experiences, Artistic Venue Touring, Entertaining Performances, Music and Foods….a thousand things were going on at the same time, just like a million fireworks sparking simultaneously on a clear summer night sky, tempting onsiters to sip every bit of its beauty and brilliance.
The boundaries were blurred out by the delicate mixture of technology, humanity, art, industrial design and cutting-edge solutions required to lead the way forward on issues of sustainable mobility. The stylish setup and deployment in the reminiscing factory strengthened the one of a kind atmosphere.
PIX Moving Presence
We totally missed the opening ceremony while clumsy through setting up PIX autonomous driving chassis on the demonstration area of Movin’On Summit venue. It was quite a pity but we ended up with a nice-looking chassis under the spotlight, embodying the possibilities on the horizon for innovative mobility solutions. Through Generative design and Additive manufacturing, the new chassis printed in one-piece came with more stiffness, fewer parts and less weight, significantly reducing the manufacturing costs.
- In-built Drive-by-wire System: Easy modification for fully autonomous driving
- Flexible Control: Twin-axle steering system and the 4-wheel-driven hub motors
- Electric power: Eco and sustainable development
Due to the limit time slot for shipping, PIX chassis arrived without batteries so it was under static demo, which still attracted visitors from all walks of life, inquiring about the metal 3D printing process, the possible service pods that might be deployed on PIX chassis, how autonomous driving would reshape the city, how the four-wheel-driven system worked, the difference between traditional chassis and more.
People were amazed by the pod+chassis approach of how PIX reimagine autonomous driving for city services, creating Mobility-as-a-Service to sustainable development. The whole startup show & tell in the two and a half days was full of meaningful connections and networking, surrounded by visionary attendees who were actually passionate about innovative technologies and who held the similar insight and belief towards sustainable mobility solutions as PIX.
Next to PIX Moving area, Michelin exhibition was right there, unveiling its newest breakthrough in mobility- prototype tire Uptis, the result of years of research. The tire was connected, 3D-printable and 100% sustainable, with the use of hi-tech materials. PIX 3D-printed chassis and Michelin 3D-printed tire, companies of different scale and backgrounds worldwide were all contributing their efforts to pushing the boundaries of innovation, building a better planet.
Startup Pitch (Movin’On Startup Challenge)
Startup Pitch highlighted the second day. The 2019 Movin’On Startup Challenge was to redefine the future of sustainable mobility while solving issues from one of this year’s five themes. Out of the 40 winning startups, 15 of them were selected and divided into three pitching teams for each theme during the matchmaking session.
PIX was chosen for the problematic: Reinventing mobility for a smart and sustainable development of tourism in Angkor, Cambodia. Startup Challenge was an interactive matchmaking session taken place at Agora space, the prominent speech center of Movin’On Summit venue. With the insightful audience onsite, we were happy to meet with Sok Sangvar, Deputy Director General APSARA National Authority in Cambodia, and presented our angle of solution.
We discussed and pitched the transportation challenges confronted by Angkor. The case of Angkor was actually an epitome of the global mobility diversity challenge — how to balance employment, maintain humanity and local culture, protect the original heritage and infrastructure, while meanwhile apply emerging technologies and AI to create innovation solutions approaches, became the primary focus of PIX approach. After certain research, we proposed the multimodal mobility solution for Angkor: electric Tuk Tuk for short-distance transportation, mobile basic tourism facilities (deployed on self-driving platform) and self-driving RV hotel to improve the tourist service and experiences. By introducing local digital manufacturing, solar charging and replacement station, and franchise operation, PIX proposed to achieve sustainable development of the local economy by the three solution approaches.
“Over the last two and a half days, our participants were immersed in a wealth of information, worked side-by-side during workshops and Labs, witnessed the next generation of technology firsthand and collectively imagined the future of sustainable mobility.”
— Movin’On Summit 2019 Daily Recap: Day 3
Surprise On The Final Day—Visit to IVI
I bumped into Mario Landry during Movin’On Summit, a treasured friend of PIX and previous participant of Move-it Hackathon, one of the self-driving hackathon events held by PIX Moving back in 2018. They had a booth within Movin’On Summit as well.
I had a great visit around Innovative Vehicle Institute office and warehouses, meeting with Pier-Marc, Hugo and the team, young, passionate and energetic. The full-stack engineer talents were busy developing all sorts of awesome projects related to vehicle innovation. Having a solid expertise in transport electrification and vehicular intelligence, IVI help businesses towards the development of innovative and technologically advanced products in the transportation industry and they’ve retrofitted a nice self-driving car in the past one year. Mario is leading the autonomous vehicle department at IVI, whose electric vehicles and autonomous vehicle research might be a promising partnership to be initiated between PIX Moving and Innovative Vehicle Institute.
A Bonus On The Way Back
As the PM of IVI, Hugo is an expert in vehicle reverse engineering, with deep proficiency in car electronics and hardware. He retrofitted his Tesla car out of personal interests and enthusiasm. It felt different and fresh to be sitting on a retrofitted Tesla car on the way back to the summit site, chatting about the new mobility trends and local car hacking events. The ride was smooth with laughters under the sunny blue sky of June Canada.
Wrap-Up
Human faces, piano notes, oriented strand boards, large EV and AV..the 2.5 Days kept flashing back to my mind. My brain, body and every cell were run through with by the mobility technology and highlights streaming, and finally freeze-framed on PIX Moving metal printed chassis under the spotlight of Movin’On Summit 2019 venue.
Energy, Creativity, Drive, Full-Display
