Volvo's Self-Driving Garbage Truck Wants Your Trash

The garbage industry is going loftier tech, with the assist of Volvo.

The automaker this calendar week debuted an autonomous garbage truck it said has the potentail to reduce emissions and increase safety in the manufacture. Volvo is currently testing the vehicle with the help of Swedish waste matter management and recycling company Renova, and said it may one day be used across urban environments.

Volvo'due south automated garbage truck tin can navigate obstacles more accurately than humans, since it never gets distracted or stressed. With its many cameras and sensors, the truck also has a amend view of the road than a human would. Sensors continuously monitor the area around the truck, which will finish immediately if an obstacle (like a rogue basketball from the neighborhood kids' game) of a sudden appears in its path.

The autonomous garbage truck shouldn't eliminate the need for human workers (yous don't want 1 of these situations). Instead, the two will work in tandem—the human focused on trash collection, and the vehicle focused on driving, Volvo said. This means the man volition no longer have to climb into and out of the cab every fourth dimension the truck moves to a new bin.

"One important benefit of the new technology is a reduction in the hazard of occupational injuries, such as wearable in human knee joints—otherwise a mutual ailment among staff working with refuse collection," Volvo's Chief Technology Officeholder Lars Stenqvist said in a statement.

The truck also offers "major environmental upsides," Volvo said, since "gear changing, steering and speed are constantly optimized for low fuel consumption and emissions."

Volvo plans to test the autonomous truck with Renova through the end of the yr.

"There is amazing potential to transform the swift pace of technical developments in automation into practical benefits for customers and, more than broadly, society in general," Stenqvist said. "Our self-driving refuse truck is leading the mode in this field globally, and 1 of several heady autonomous innovations we are working with right at present."

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's proficient on fitness and smart home products. Teaching yoga for nearly 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected wellness products including fettle trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, force training machines, treadmills, and more than. Angela as well tests smart dwelling devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, only to proper noun a few.