Both electric and autonomous vehicles are becoming popular with time. These electric self-driving vehicles will play an essential role in the future of driving, particularly with the fleets. But the question remains that if no one is driving, who will be there to plug the vehicle into the charger? Will anyone be around to plug them in? And there comes Electrify America with its outstanding robotic fast-charging solution!
Electrify America – a company (a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America) that owns and manages an electric vehicle charging network – has signed an agreement with Stable Auto, a San Francisco-based EV fleet charging company to create automated charging solutions for future self-driving cars. The company has announced on Thursday, that their first pilot demonstration will take place in San Francisco in early 2020.
The robotic fast-charging facility is actually aimed at charging autonomous EVs without human intervention using a robotic solution attached to a 150kW DC fast charger. Electric America will evaluate the hardware, network, operations, and billing of its charging systems to best suit autonomous charging fleets. And the Stable will contribute its scheduling software and the underlying robotic technology that actually attaches the chargers to the vehicles.
The self-driving cars will park themselves anywhere inside standard parking space, and Stable’s robotic arm will extend to get them hook up to the power source.
This robotic fast-charging facility is not only for autonomous vehicles, but any electric vehicle can take advantage of this system. Simply show up, park the car, walk away, and let the robots do the rest.
“Autonomous vehicles will play an important role in the future of driving, particularly with fleets, and tailored charging options for self-driving EVs will be critical to developing that effort,” Wayne Killen, director, infrastructure planning and business development, Electrify America, said in a release. “We’re excited to partner with Stable to be at the forefront of learning more and developing those charging solutions.”