No seats, no dramas: $30m boost for self-driving cars
Driverless cars without seats, windows or steering wheels could be produced in Australia within the year, following $30.7 million in funding support.
The National Restructuring Fund announced it will invest in Melbourne-based Applied Electric Vehicles on Wednesday in a transaction that will account for more than half of the company’s Series B funding.
It comes after the Clean Energy Finance Corporation invested $70 million in Volvo’s plans to build electric trucks in Queensland and start-up New Energy Transport announced plans to build a fleet of electric tractors in NSW.
The National Reconstruction Fund’s investment of $30.7 million will be its first investment in the transportation sector, one of the seven priority areas identified in which production should be supported.
The investment will accelerate production of the company’s Blanc Robots, which resemble vehicles cut in half, built from Suzuki chassis and proprietary components and software manufactured and installed in Australia.
David Gall, chief executive of the National Reconstruction Fund, said the investment would help the company add another 25 employees to its 113-strong staff and speed up its production pipeline.
“This is accelerating the building of Australia’s industrial capacity in this area,” he told AAP.
“It’s great to see new manufacturing starting to take hold in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, traditionally one of Australia’s manufacturing centres.”
Blanc Robot vehicles are designed for use in industrial, commercial and logistics businesses, where companies add customized cabs to their chassis, and can be used off-road, in remote or hazardous locations.
Mr Gall said that in addition to self-driving capabilities, the environmental features of the vehicles could help reduce freight pollution and increase export chances.
“The fact that they are designed and built from the ground up to achieve zero-emission operations will be key to their success,” he said.
“The businesses they will be selling to are very focused on emissions information and I think that will be a really important factor in the purchasing process in export markets, but certainly for Australian businesses.”
The fund will join the likes of Barrenjoey and Japan Post Capital in its Applied Electric Vehicles Series B round, and the company’s chief executive Julian Broadbent said it would help pave the way for larger production.
“When traditional automotive manufacturing left Australia, we saw an opportunity by tapping into the wealth of local engineering talent and building something truly innovative from scratch,” he said.
“This support not only accelerates our mission to scale Blanc Robot and autonomous mobility solutions globally, but also validates the vision that got us here.”
