PIX Moving Makes Customizable Autonomous Chassis Platforms to Empower Various Industries
This article is a repost from The Spoon Tech by PIX Moving team. The original article can be found here, contributed by author Chris Albrecht.
There are a variety of different autonomous vehicles of all shapes and sizes coming to market: From the cargo vans of Udelv, to the pod-like R2 from Nuro, all the way down to the cooler sized sidewalk robots from Starship.
Chinese company PIX Moving is taking a bit of a different approach to autonomous vehicles by removing most of the vehicle. The company is building a self-driving chassis platform on top of which its customers can build whatever they like.
So a big restaurant chain could create a mobile pod of lockers for meal delivery, or a grocery store could create a temperature-controlled store on wheels. A large warehouse-type store could just attach a flat base for moving inventory around.
PIX’s chassis is electric and low-speed, which allows it to sidestep some of the more complex regulations associated with full-sized, full-speed autonomous vehicles. All four wheels of the PIX chassis are steerable, making it highly maneuverable. It’s also 3D printed, so its lightweight and there are fewer parts. And, like any autonomous vehicle, it is packed with an array of sensors and cameras to navigate and avoid obstacles.
I spoke with Chase Cao, PIX COO, by phone this week and he explained that his company is currently navigating the rules and regulations both in China and the U.S. to get its self-driving platform running on public roads. In the meantime, its chassis is being used on some private corporate campuses in both countries. Right now, PIX sells its chassis outright, though Cao said they may look at more of a leasing model in the future.
PIX is worth watching, especially as it relates to food delivery, because of the flexibility of its platform. By pushing the design of the compartments that carry the cargo to its customers (restaurants, grocers, etc.), those compartments can be tailored to a specific set of needs (size, temperature, etc.). This can then create more efficient delivery, and thereby generating even more demand for autonomous delivery.
In other words, there will be even more variety of self-driving vehicles coming to our roads.
About PIX Moving
PIX builds autonomous driving chassis platform PIXBOT to integrate living, working and entertaining spaces atop, forming different moving spaces to provide on-demand services, such as unattended vending car, mobile office, self-driving hotel, moving karaoke and more applications. PIXKBOT chassis platform is modular and universal, with reconfigurable wheelbase and wheelbase options, it can be extended with flexibility to meet different application scenarios requirements.
Based on PIXBOT universal chassis platform, a wide range of autonomous driving applications can be developed, further driving the ecosystem of autonomous mobility, just like how iPhone nurtured the ecology of diverse Apps.
With PIXBOT, we empower city spaces with autonomous mobility so that spaces will be mobile, configurable and on-demand. The moving spaces (robo-vehicles developed based on PIXBOT) can be used in diverse scenarios like industrial parks, public parks, scenic spots, parking lots, airports, residential communities and shopping malls etc., providing sharing mobility and on-demand services for urban citizens. PIX Moving envisions autonomous driving technology from city perspective. While many other autonomous driving startups are focusing on transporting people from point A to B, PIX is bringing autonomous-mobility-powered services to people. Taco trucks, coffee machines, and photo booths will all become autonomously routed and freely moving parts of cities.
