Australian startup Applied Electric Vehicles (Applied EV) has received a $30.7 million investment from the federal government for its Suzuki Jimny-based Blanc Robot autonomous vehicle project – funding that could eventually enable the vehicles to be deployed on public roads.
Funding comes from $15 billion from the government National Reconstruction Fund Company (NRFC), which has invested $1.19 billion in Australian companies to date.
“We are proud to invest in a company that commercializes Australian innovation, expands the country’s manufacturing capacity and creates high-skilled jobs,” NRFC CEO David Gall said in a statement.
“By focusing on autonomous electric vehicles for industrial use, (Applied EV) has created a solid and scalable business model.”
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“Its proprietary digital control system consists of a combination of electronics and software that enables autonomous electric vehicles to operate to the highest global safety standards in conditions that are remote and dangerous for human drivers.”
The investment will enable Applied EV to produce 100 examples of its Blanc Robot cabless autonomous vehicles, developed in Melbourne under the leadership of co-founder, former Holden designer and engineer Julian Broadbent.
The company currently has 20 vehicles in use, with the physical platform and its “digital backbone” now in its sixth generation. It is designed for use as part of vehicle logistics chains as more industries – including car manufacturers – increasingly rely on autonomy and robotics on assembly lines and in warehousing.
“The world is starting to believe that autonomous driving will be possible,” Mr Broadbent said Forbes.
“If you’re a logistics company or fleet operator, you probably won’t see your entire fleet change overnight, but if you don’t start thinking about how you can integrate autonomous vehicles into your fleet like your competitors are doing, you know you’re missing out.”
Mr Broadbent’s background includes time at former Australian car manufacturer Holden, both local and overseas roles with parent company General Motors (GM), and leading start-ups in Silicon Valley.
Applied EV was founded in 2015 and attracted investment from Japanese automaker Suzuki following an agreement between the companies in 2021, which the company said accelerated its development program.
With Suzuki’s involvement, Applied EV aims to bring thousands of its Blanc Robot platforms using the underpinnings of the popular Suzuki Jimny SUV to a market that Mr. Broadbent calls ripe, rather than pursuing the more distant goal of fully autonomous passenger vehicles.
“As traditional car manufacturing left Australia, we saw an opportunity to harness the wealth of local engineering talent and build something truly innovative from the ground up,” Mr Broadbent said.
“We will have manufacturing elements here in Australia. A lot of the technology and development of that technology will happen here, including small volume manufacturing.”
“The vehicle frames are built by Suzuki, but the boxes that control them are made in Melbourne… but there are also new roles coming in what I call ‘Applied EV 2.0’.”
“We need to employ a lot of people to manage the fleets operating remotely.”
The company had 113 employees prior to the NRFC funding announcement.
“We need a lot of data analytics and telemetry. We need to provide a lot of support. So we’re seeing the business grow in Australia and around the world,” Mr Broadbent added.
Applied EV has also attracted investment from Japan Post, which operates a fleet of around 80,000 vehicles – potentially paving the way for the first use of the Australian company’s autonomous technology on public roads.
“We plan to use them to carry out urban work at very low speeds. In many cities in Japan, they face major challenges due to population decline,” explained the CEO of Applied EV.
“We are using this to solve a problem where there are no drivers in the city who can do all the tasks this company needs to do.
“I would call it a megatrend challenge, but the first steps are quite small.”
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