Anyone who wants to charge an electric vehicle can go to charging stations, which can now be found in a large number of places in the Netherlands, for this purpose. Vehicles are connected to the charging post using a plug, which requires a manual operation. However, if it is up to Volkswagen, drivers will not have to worry about this in the future. In cooperation with robot manufacturer KUKA, the company plans to develop robots that autonomously connect vehicles to charging stations.
Virtually every car manufacturer is now actively working on or has already launched electric vehicles, while more and more countries and parties are saying goodbye to combustion engines. Norway, for instance, announced that it will curb sales of combustion engine vehicles by 2025, while France plans to do so from 2040. Volvo Group also recently announced that from 2019 it will only produce models equipped with an electric motor. In some cases, these will be all-electric vehicles, while others will be hybrid cars. Volkswagen has also been betting on all-electric vehicles for some time. For instance, the company supplies the e-Golf and e-up, among others. The e-Golf has a range of up to 300 kilometres, while the e-up can travel up to 160 kilometres on a single charge.
Cooperation with KUKA
Now Volkswagen Research Group, the research arm of Volkswagen Group, announces it is expanding its existing collaboration with robot manufacturer KUKA. The companies will jointly focus on the development of innovative services around fully electric and autonomous vehicles. "We are working intensively on structuring the mobility of the future. This is not simply about innovative concepts for vehicles, but includes the completely new requirements in the service sector," explained Matthias Müller, Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen AG.
Müller, together with Volkswagen's Head of Research and Development Ulrich Eichhorn, recently signed a cooperation contract with Till Reuter, Chief Executive Officer of KUKA. One of the goals of this renewed cooperation is to develop robot-based innovations for fully electric and autonomous vehicles. "In the future, robots will support people in many routine tasks. Daily life in the future will be unthinkable without autonomous driving. We are working together on innovative concepts to shape this future," Reuter said.
e-smart Connect
The collaboration builds on an existing research project on human-robot collaboration. Within the new project 'e-smart Connect', the parties are working together on, among other things, a practical and user-friendly solution for charging the batteries of Volkswagen electric vehicles. Here, the vehicle is automatically connected to a charging station by a robot from KUKA, without the driver having to perform any actions. The driver simply parks his vehicle in the designated parking space, after which KUKA's robot plugs in the vehicle.
In addition, the companies want to start developing other innovative applications based on robots, although Volkswagen and KUKA are not releasing details about this yet. "Autonomous vehicles will contribute to making mobility safer, simpler and more convenient. This includes innovative services around cars," Eichhorn said. With the new strategic partnership, Volkswagen and KUKA aim to capitalise on this.
New electric vehicles
Volkswagen also announces that it will bet heavily on electric vehicles in the coming years. For instance, the company plans to introduce more than 10 new electric models by the end of 2018. By 2025, another 30 new electric models should be launched. These will be all-electric vehicles, equipped exclusively with an electric motor. At the same time, Porsche, also part of the Volkswagen Group, will focus on expanding its infrastructure for fast-charging stations.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Volkswagen Group
Source: KUKA
