Author name: Shannon Garcia

roblox-developer-conference-attendees-receive-free-quest-pros-ahead-of-quest-3-launch

Roblox Developer Conference Attendees Receive Free Quest Pros Ahead of Quest 3 Launch

Meta, News, quest 3, Quest Pro, roblox, roblox quest, roblox quest 3, roblox quest pro, roblox vr, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / /

Roblox has done very well on Quest. When it launched on the standalone VR platform back in July, it managed to break one million downloads in its first five days, essentially making the online game the hottest social VR platform currently available on Quest. Now Roblox has also showered attendees at its annual developer conference this past weekend with free Quest Pros.

Despite being in direct competition with Meta’s Horizon Worlds social VR platform, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood over the explosive growth of Roblox on Quest.

A message was sent to attendees at RDC23 this past weekend, stating that Meta is footing the bill to provide a heap of free Quest Pros, its $1,000 mixed reality standalone.

“The news is out! We want to give a special thanks to our partner meta. They have offered to provide all RDC23 attendees with Meta Quest Pro headsets to help you create the best Roblox experiences for VR,” the message reads.

Developers didn’t have to wait long, as they collected their free Quest Pros on site at RDC23.

During the RDC 2023 keynote, Baszucki also revealed that Roblox now features “over 50,000 experiences that are ready right now on Meta Quest.”

Roblox is currently available on the Quest platform via App Lab, however the company says it’s set for its “full” release on Quest sometime in September. Baszucki didn’t specify when, although it’s a good bet that the popular social platform will be a launch day title on Quest 3, which could come as early as September 27th during Connect, Meta’s annual developer conference.

The company also announced Roblox is headed to PlayStation in October, however it’s not clear if that will include PSVR or PSVR 2 support as well.

Roblox Developer Conference Attendees Receive Free Quest Pros Ahead of Quest 3 Launch Read More »

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Meta Releases ‘Citadel’ Co-op VR Adventure, Its Second Marquee Title in ‘Horizon Worlds’

citadel, horizon worlds, horizon worlds minigames, Meta, meta vr, News, VR Game / /

In late July, Meta introduced a hero shooter called ‘Super Rumble’ to Horizon Worlds, aiming to improve user retention on its social VR platform with the promise of higher quality first-party content. Now Meta released its second big anchor minigame on Horizon Worlds, a co-op adventure game called ‘Citadel’.

Citadel is what Meta calls a “rogue-lite action-adventure puzzle platformer FPS,” offering up both solo and co-op play.

Here’s how Meta describes the action:

Combining combat, puzzle-solving, and skillful gameplay, each room in Citadel gives players a new challenge to overcome. With numerous hidden secrets to uncover across 30 rooms, Citadel offers a wealth of content to explore. And after completing the game in Casual mode, those up for an additional challenge can take on Veteran mode for an even greater sense of achievement (and additional bragging rights).

As you infiltrate the citadel, find hidden relics, and eliminate enemy forces, you’ll unlock weapons and rewards and earn credit to buy new armor with unique stats to upgrade your hit points, number of lives, and speed. Mix and match helmets and torso armors at will to fully customize your gameplay experience.

Stocking Horizon Worlds with higher quality content has only been one piece of Meta’s user retention puzzle. Back in April, the company announced it was set to officially open the platform to kids ages 13+. Meta has also recently begun a closed beta for Android users, opening the platform to non-VR devices for the first time.

The company says it’s hoping to open Horizon Worlds to iOS devices and standard web browsers too at some point, which could help the platform gain greater traction amid some already fairly fierce competition. This comes as Meta opened Quest up the online gaming powerhouse Roblox, joining popular social VR platforms Rec Room, VRChat, and Gym Class on the Quest platform.

Meta Releases ‘Citadel’ Co-op VR Adventure, Its Second Marquee Title in ‘Horizon Worlds’ Read More »

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Ubotica and IBM bring one-click deployment of AI on board satellites

Corporates and innovation, Deep tech, Startups and technology / /

Amid the increasing commercialisation of space tech, Ubotica has partnered up with IBM to simplify the use of AI applications on board low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites.

Founded in 2016, the Dublin-headquartered startup provides its CogniSAT edge computing platform for artificial intelligence systems on satellites, which enables AI inference to be performed on data directly in space.

This is with the aim of addressing a pressing challenge: the costly and time-consuming storage and processing of data on the ground. And that’s also what the new partnership is all about.

According to the two companies, their mutual customers will be able to deploy their AI models directly to satellites using the CogniSAT platform “with a single click.” They can then use the models to produce data insights in space.

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This approach is expected to bring a dual advantage. Firstly, it will enhance autonomy and decision-making capabilities at the edge, reducing reliance on ground systems. Secondly, it will lead to substantial cost savings for satellite constellation operators, both in terms of capital and operations.

Capital expenses are lowered “through savings in communications infrastructure brought by reducing the amount of raw data that needs to be downlinked for processing,” Sean Mitchell, Ubotica’s CCO, told TNW. 

“OpEx is reduced by the savings in the bandwidth needed to communicate insights from onboard processing,” he added.

Under the new deal, Ubotica will leverage IBM’s cloud infrastructure and watsonx.ai components (the tech giant’s AI and data platform).

Specifically, the startup will begin by installing a Red Hat OpenShift Kubernetes Service (ROKS) cluster, on which it will build components to create a hybrid cloud AI platform.

Ubotica’s initial architecture (which will integrate elements from the Open Data Hub) will also align with the underlying implementation of watsonx.ai. Over the next year, the company might incorporate additional IBM services, such as Watson Studio, Watson Open Scale, or tools from Cloud Pak for Data.

The partnership, which builds on the startup’s previous successes, is sure to solidify Ubotica’s place in the global space tech race.

The startup has been providing AI solutions to the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA JPS since 2020. This year, it achieved another milestone with the launch of CongiSAT-6, the first satellite to use space AI to independently plan image tasking and generate insights through onboard processing of image sensor data.

Ubotica and IBM bring one-click deployment of AI on board satellites Read More »

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Carbon offset data startup Treefera raises €2M to map forests with AI

Startups and technology, Sustainability / /

Treefera says it wants to transform the accuracy, transparency, and efficiency of the carbon offset industry with AI and data from a trillion trees across the globe. It just received a vote of confidence in the form of a €2mn seed round led by Concept Ventures and participation from the CTO of Intel, among others.

The practice of voluntary offsetting has faced criticism from various quarters, with concerns ranging from it being simply inefficient to directly detrimental to the quest for decarbonisation as a whole. Nonetheless, it is big business.

Most companies touting net-zero carbon emissions by 2035, 2040, or 2050 are factoring offsets into the equation. In 2021, the carbon offsetting market was worth nearly $2bn. With ESG pressure on companies from investors increasing, predictions say it could grow to as much as $40bn by the end of the decade, and hit a staggering $250bn by 2050.

At the same time, trust in carbon offsetting has taken a massive hit over the past couple of years — and not without cause. Not all carbon credits are created equal. The cheaper they are, the more useless they are likely to be. 

A study published last month in the journal Science found that only 5.4 million, or 6%, of a potential 89 million offset credits were linked to additional carbon reductions through preserved forests. The vast majority originated from projects that barely reduced deforestation. 

Treefera was founded in 2022 by Jonathan Horn, theoretical physicist and former Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, and Caroline Grey, former CCO at UiPath. 

Its AI driven platform measures, monitors, and verifies (a practice known as MRV) carbon credits. Having mapped a trillion trees globally covering jurisdictions (countries and large regions) as well as 197+ registered forest projects, the startup says it has an unprecedented repository of data. 

A screen shot of the Treefera platform

It then applies a combination of deep learning models and novel AI search techniques to determine the accuracy with which carbon credits are priced, based on information on things such as tree health and carbon sequestration and other important “reversal risks,” including fire, flood, and drought. 

“Treefera’s transformative AI tool has the power to revolutionise the world’s approach to forest data and conservation,” Horn said. “Our platform enables instant analysis and insights of carbon offset projects, and critically allows easy integration of that trusted data into our clients’ analytics environment through an API.”

The company, based out of London and New York, says it will use the raised capital to enhance platform capabilities, expand its team, and extend its global market presence.

Carbon offset data startup Treefera raises €2M to map forests with AI Read More »

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EU president: Europe is the ‘global pioneer’ of citizen’s digital rights

Data and security, Government and policy, Insider / /

Europeans have become “pioneers in online rights” and now want to lead a “global framework for AI,” the EU’s top official said today.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, revealed the bloc’s digital plans during her State of the Union address in Strasbourg. She used the speech to flaunt the achievements of her three-year reign.

A particularly large spotlight was shone on her tech policies.

“We have set the path for the digital transition and become global pioneers in online rights,” von der Leyen said.

The former German defence minister praised the bloc’s work on semiconductor self-sufficiency, which centres on the Chips Act. Backed with €43bn of funding, the legislation aims to double the EU’s market share in semiconductors to at least 20% by 2030.

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Von der Leyen also touted the union’s clean tech industry, as well as the digital projects in NextGenerationEU, a COVID-19 recovery plan. Her biggest brag, however, involved digital safety.

“Europe has led on managing the risks of the digital world,” she said.

To the chagrin of Silicon Valley, the EU has become the world’s most formidable tech regulator. Tough laws on privacy, tax avoidance, antitrust, and online content have led to eye-popping fines for some of the biggest companies in the US.  Von der Leyen warned them that more rules are coming.

To justify the intervention, she argued that disinformation, data exploitation, and “harmful content” have reduced the public’s trust and breached their rights.

“In response, Europe has become the global pioneer of citizen’s rights in the digital world,” she said.

As evidence for this claim, von der Leyen pointed to two recent regulations: the Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes rules on content moderation, and the Digital Market Act (DMA), which aims to reign in big tech’s dominance.

Her next big target is artificial intelligence.

“We need an open dialogue with those that develop and deploy AI.

In recent months, concerns have grown about AI causing job losses, discrimination, surveillance, and even extinction. To mitigate the threats, the EU will soon adopt the AI Act, the first-ever comprehensive legislation for the tech.

Von der Leyen described the rules as “a blueprint for the whole world.” She also laid out the next steps of the EU’s plan.

“I believe Europe, together with partners, should lead the way on a new global framework for AI, built on three pillars: guardrails, governance, and guiding innovation,” she said.

The main guardrails will be provided by the AI Act. For governance, von der Leven called for the creation of a global panel of scientists, tech companies and independent experts. Together, they would inform policymakers about developments in the field.

On innovation, she announced a project that will enable AI startups to train their models on the EU’s high-performance computers. The private sector, however, will likely want further support. In an open letter published in June, some of Europe’s biggest companies warn that the AI Act will inhibit innovation and jeopardise the continent’s businesses.

Von der Leyen, meanwhile, called for closer collaboration with the private sector.

“We need an open dialogue with those that develop and deploy AI,” she said. “It happens in the United States, where seven major tech companies have already agreed to voluntary rules around safety, security and trust.

“It happens here, where we will work with AI companies, so that they voluntarily commit to the principles of the AI Act before it comes into force. Now we should bring all of this work together towards minimum global standards for safe and ethical use of AI.”

EU president: Europe is the ‘global pioneer’ of citizen’s digital rights Read More »

european-fintech-funding-drops-70%-in-first-half-of-2023

European fintech funding drops 70% in first half of 2023

Ecosystems, Fintech and ecommerce, Investors and funding, Startups and technology / /

Fintech funding in Europe has been greatly affected by the challenging economic environment, the latest report by Finch Capital has found. Specifically, startups in the sector raised a total of €4.6bn in the first half of 2023 — down 70% from €15.3bn in H1 2022.

“Since mid-2022 we have seen an increase in investment discipline in public and private markets, resulting in less funding, lay-offs, less IPOs, flight to quality, and focus on capital efficiency,” said Radboud Vlaar, Managing Partner at Finch Capital.

Amid this increased funding discipline, this year’s first half has seen a 48% decline in the number of deals (434 in total) alongside an 84% decrease in M&A transaction sizes, compared to the equivalent 2022 levels. On the bright side, overall M&A activity fell only by 5% with volumes to match those of the past year.

Meanwhile, although the top 20 funding rounds are back to pre-2020 levels, investment dropped the most for the rest, which accounted for less than 40% of the total deal volume. Startups in the Series A to C stages have felt the heaviest impact. In contrast, seed rounds continued to attract funding.

Slide from the State of European Fintech Report 2023
Credit: Finch Capital

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From a valuation perspective, public markets have withdrawn to 2019 levels, after record growth in 2020-2021, but are showing signs of stabilisation. Private markets are also transitioning to 2019 valuation levels at a comparable but slower pace.

“We should also start to see a slow recovery of the IPO market in the next semester as valuations have started to slowly pick up and inflation is declining,” noted Vlaar.

Crypto on the rise

Crypto and Lending have attracted most of the investments, displacing Payments and Banking — a traditionally resilient category that saw record capital deployed in 2022. Notably, one in three fintech startups are now labelled as crypto/blockchain.

From B2C to B2B

The report has also found that the trend of the past years towards B2B fintech is here to stay. One reason why is the growing interest in regulation technology as payments and open banking are increasingly consolidating. Another is generative AI’s potential applications in retail banking and the insurance sector.

The UK leads in funding

A well-established fintech hotspot, the UK has shown more resilience and accounted for over 50% of the funding in Europe.

Nevertheless, the UK, Germany, and France also saw a 70% decline in funding value, but optimistically, exits continued consistently. Poland recorded the biggest drop at 89.9%. Overall, countries with an active Series A-B investor base, have seen valuations hold up with small increases in post-money valuations.

The “new normal”

“Consolidation and more competitive investment flows, combined with still significant levels of undeployed capital, will bring maturity to the fintech sector. This new normal level of activity demonstrates the refocus of the fintech ecosystem on long term sustainability versus short term gains,” said Vlaar.

And although the overall environment will continue to be challenging in the next 12 months, he added that this will result in “a more healthy and sustainable startup, hiring, and investor ecosystem.”

European fintech funding drops 70% in first half of 2023 Read More »

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Introducing ‘The Time is Now: Toolkit for Change’

Startups and technology, Sustainability / /

Climate change anxiety is real, and it can cause feelings of powerlessness, or even apathy. While it is true that no soggy straws in the world will help as long as billion-dollar industries keep indiscriminately pumping oil out of the ground, it is also false to believe that our individual efforts do not matter. 

In a new game published last week, called The Time is Now: Toolkit for Change, the creators have taken to a good old low-tech tabletop approach to make people think about how, for instance, their relationship with technology can have a more positive impact on the environment. 

The idea is to gather a group of people — colleagues, friends or family — and to generate ideas and solutions, from an individual to a societal level, to what is undoubtedly one of the greatest generational challenges of our time. (Note: one of the game’s originators, Niels Sipkema, is the Director of TNW Programs, which is how we got our hands on a pre-release edition.)

Based on six of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the cards of the game present questions or problems involving an environmental component to be read out loud by one player. The others then pitch their solutions to the problem described on the card. 

The reader then picks a winner, who places the card on an “action canvas” along vectors of what can be accomplished by ourselves (cycling to work), what can begin tomorrow, (say, choosing a sustainable caterer for your company event), what needs some more time and planning (investing in carbon removal startups), and what can be done with some help (solar panels on the roof of your building). 

If you cannot think of anything technologically groundbreaking, the prompt from the game’s creators reads: “If you can’t be serious, be funny, blunt, green, or smart.” The TNW test group found themselves being all of those things — to varying degrees, depending on who you ask — during a runthrough of the game. 

The actions we take is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in

We may not all be quantum engineers that can develop the new clean fusion fuel of the future, but we can all make informed decisions and conscious choices in our relationship to the planet. (After learning about the carbon cost of digital clutter, at least one of the players rushed to delete a few thousand photos of their cat from the cloud.) 

Every action we take — what we choose to consume, how we choose to travel, and where we choose to invest — is a vote cast for the kind of world we want to live in. Pointing a finger and saying “but they don’t, so why should I,” simply isn’t good enough. 

But when choices regarding our habits are presented with an added appendage of guilt, or a serving of shame on the side, they become harder to maintain. Just look at yo-yo dieting. 

However, when introduced with a sense of agency coupled with positive reinforcement (for instance, such as winning a pitch), we are much more likely to stick to the habits we are trying to build. 

In either case, we have to have the, sometimes terribly inconvenient, conversations — for the sake of future generations. The Time is Now: Toolkit for Change is an effective approach to that end. 

The Time is Now: Toolkit for Change is created by Gerard Drost, Niels Sipkema, Johannes van der Erenbeemt, and Bjorn Uyens, a team that also made The Startup Game. It is published by BISPublishers and available here. 

Introducing ‘The Time is Now: Toolkit for Change’ Read More »

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Europe’s homes are wasting too much energy – these startups have a plan

Europe, Next Featured, Startups and technology, Sustainability / /

Single-glazing. Old electric-powered heat emitters. Walls with hardly any insulation. Damp throughout the ground floor. Welcome to Europe. 

While these problems vary in prevalence from country to country, even nations rated highly in assessments of household energy efficiency have room for improvement. Sweden, for instance, often does very well in such analyses. But for Magnus Petersson, cofounder and chief executive of Stockholm-based Dryft, there’s plenty of work still to do.

“We need to fundamentally transform the houses,” he says. Dryft, a startup with 150 employees that has raised €6 million to date, numbers itself among a fleet of new businesses targeting the energy renovation market. 

Petersson and his fellow cofounders noticed rising demand for home retrofits around 2019. That demand has only rocketed since because of energy price rises caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Dryft and others like them are using tech to help homeowners find out how efficient their home really is — and what they can do to improve it. The treatments these firms propose will differ dramatically from house to house but the idea in general is to offer “holistic” advice.

Companies such as Dryft aren’t just about selling you a new heating system – the point, they say, is to find out the most suitable methods for making a dwelling more efficient within a certain budget, whatever those methods may be. 

Some homes will need lots more insulation, while others will already have that but require a more efficient method of ventilating the internal spaces, for example. Where would a homeowner’s cash best be spent?

Energy Tetris

“When we sell energy renovation to you as a customer, that energy renovation is a Tetris made up of different services,” says Petersson, referring to the popular block-sorting video game in his analogy. 

With Dryft, customers get a free 30-minute video consultation where they can talk through features of their property with an energy adviser. This yields a summary of what kind of retrofit might best suit the dwelling and how much it could cost. If the customer decides to proceed, Dryft conducts a more in-depth survey and can then go on and actually do the required renovation work as well.

The company currently covers the Greater Stockholm area but has plans to expand across Europe. Since 2020, Dryft has carried out renovation projects large and small in nearly 6,000 homes.

Petersson explains how the firm’s algorithm estimates the projected energy savings post-renovation. This algorithm is constantly being refined with data on the outcome of real Dryft projects, he adds, meaning that it ought to get more and more accurate over time. 

As an example, he shares a case study of a 1970-built, four-bedroom house in Stockholm. Dryft upgraded the double-glazing to triple-glazing, installed a heat pump, ventilation system with heat recovery, and also some smart controls. The whole renovation cost the equivalent of €38,000 and the household is currently saving €2,900 per year in energy expenditure. 

At that rate, it will take about 12-13 years to recoup the investment. In the meantime, annual energy consumption in the property has plummeted by more than 40% and its Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating has jumped from G to C. This should increase the value of the property, notes Petersson.

Show me the money

There’s no doubt that extensive energy retrofits are not cheap. Dryft and startups in the same market are also trying to help customers take advantage of government subsidies or grants. 

“People are planning renovation roadmaps and that is what we are actually showing to our customers,” explains Justus Menten, cofounder of Enter, an energy retrofit-focused startup in Berlin. 

Enter offers financing options to help people pay for their energy renovation in instalments and the firm supports customers in seeking out applicable subsidies that could lessen the upfront cost of the work they want to do. Enter works with partner companies who carry out the actual plumbing, engineering work, or installation of insulation, for example.

The startup, which has 135 employees and has raised €19.4 million so far, has around 1,000 paying customers per month, adds Menten. Enter has an app that can estimate the energy demands of a dwelling and how specific retrofit projects — say, upgrading the loft insulation — will impact that. 

Customers can try out different energy renovation measures and see the projected results in terms of emissions savings, reduced costs, and the potential increased value of their property, for example. A virtual retrofit before you decide on the real thing.

Enter also has a team of experts who subsequently survey each dwelling and confirm the accuracy of the app’s suggestions and projections.

Tools that help homeowners understand what renovation measures are available, and what their impacts might be, are much needed at present, say observers.

“From my research, there is a huge gap for householders to find high-quality information – that can delay renovations taking place,” says Kate Simpson at Imperial College London, who has studied the use of data in energy renovations. She notes that it can be difficult to accurately predict energy savings post-renovation because there are so many factors that affect consumption, from the weather to how much the occupants decide to heat their home.

Crucially, startups gathering data about energy consumption must ensure that they have consent to do so, she adds.

Data is key

Data protection is very important, though access to useful information on the current energy efficiency of homes around Europe is far from standardised, notes Michael Hanratty, chief executive of BERWOW, a startup in the Republic of Ireland. 

BERWOW uses an automated tool to analyse data from the Irish equivalent of an EPC – a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate. The tool proposes energy renovation interventions that might be suitable for a given dwelling. These suggestions can be followed up with an on-site survey to get formal quotations for specific works.

Hanratty explains that the firm’s digital tool, built by Dublin-based tech firm Gamma Location Labs, was ready to go in 2017 but new GDPR legislation regarding data protection in 2018 meant BERWOW had to come up with a different system for accessing individual users’ own BER certificates. It requires users to provide their unique electricity meter number and upload proof of address to an online system before the BER can be released to BERWOW for analysis. 

“You’d imagine with the urgency of the climate crisis that there could be easier solutions to accessing this data,” says Hanratty. Homeowners who don’t yet have a BER for their property, or who don’t want to open up access to it, can select from one of 60 generalised Irish dwelling types to get an approximated result.

Hanratty adds that he hopes to expand BERWOW to other countries, though the methodology for retrieving EPC information differs greatly from country to country within Europe, he points out. 

Since launch, BERWOW has clocked more than 60,000 visitors to its live tool, which is published on the websites of SSE Airtricity, a major local energy provider in Ireland, among others. Those initial enquiries have resulted in a total of 2,400 surveys of properties to date. 

BERWOW has one employee — Hanratty — and has not needed to raise any external funding, besides initial research funding of €112,000 from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

Thinking big

There are plenty of private homeowners with the means to carry out their own renovations around the continent. But they are just one slice of the pie. What about the big businesses that construct large residential developments, or social housing providers?

In the UK, Hubb is targeting such organisations. The company has its own software that creates a digital twin of a specific property. Hubb’s machine learning system can then model how to make each dwelling more energy efficient. Founder and chief executive James Major says he wants to do this on a big scale and is currently in discussions with two large companies in the UK — though no contracts have been signed just yet.

Major wants to demonstrate to firms constructing thousands of houses that, should they improve the energy performance of these buildings even slightly, there could be massive reductions in demand on the electricity grid, for instance.

“If you increase your fabric improvements by 10% or 15%, we could save X amounts of megawatts that you need to connect to your development,” says Major. And this could apply to existing properties requiring a retrofit, too. Doing it at scale would in principle cut down local energy demand drastically.

With the climate crisis worsening while millions of homes around Europe still require energy renovations of some kind, and with consumers expressing their desire to spend significantly less on heating in our age of inflation, it may be time to think big – and fast — about retrofits.

Europe’s homes are wasting too much energy – these startups have a plan Read More »

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Meta is Reportedly Partnering with LG to Create Apple Vision Pro Competitor

apple vision pro, lg, lg electronics, Meta, meta lg partnership, Mixed Reality, News, vision pro / /

Meta is reportedly teaming up with South Korean tech giant LG Electronics to offer up competition to the Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which is slated to arrive sometime in 2024.

South Korea’s Maekyung (Korean) is reporting on two new Meta headsets: a low-cost Quest model that will be priced at “less than $200” coming in 2024, and a high-priced model in a joint venture with LG in 2025, which is supposedly set to take on Apple Vision Pro.

The report maintains the name of the Meta/LG headset will be ‘Meta Quest 4 Pro’.

Mass production of the so-called Quest 4 Pro is allegedly being handled by LG Electronics, and LG Display, with LG Innotek and LG Energy Solution supplying parts.

Provided the report is true, it seems some very distinct battle lines are being drawn. Samsung announced earlier this year that it was working with Qualcomm and Google to develop an Android-powered XR device, which may also be positioned to compete against Apple and Meta.

Meta is Reportedly Partnering with LG to Create Apple Vision Pro Competitor Read More »

sweden’s-scania-unveils-world’s-first-semi-truck-covered-in-solar-panels

Sweden’s Scania unveils world’s first semi-truck covered in solar panels

Corporates and innovation, Electric vehicle, Sustainability / /

Late last week, Sweden’s Scania revealed a world-first hybrid semi-truck covered in solar panels. Because of its self-produced energy, the unique prototype has the potential to reduce both operational costs and CO2 emissions of heavy transport. 

The hybrid truck’s trailer is covered in 100 square metres of solar panels that are plugged into an electrical system carried on board. It is being deployed in a research project to examine how much solar energy such a configuration can generate, and how much it is possible to lower CO2 emissions through the use of the attached photovoltaic panels.

As it swooshes silently down the Scandinavian countryside roads, it looks like something of a transplant from a not-so-distant future. But, solar-powered trucks and… Sweden? 

“If you can make it work here with solar power in Sweden, you can make it work anywhere,” said Eric Falkgrim, project manager for the company’s solar-powered truck development — a fact to which anyone who has ever lived through November in Sweden can attest. Falkgrim added that if the technology is viable in the Nordics, then that would confirm the widespread validity of the project. 

Academia and industry collaboration

Inspired by the progress made in lithium-ion battery tech, a few years back the company’s research and innovation department asked itself if solar panel technology could also grow both more efficient and come down in cost enough for a self-catering photovoltaic truck to make sense.

Following an initial pre-study concluded in 2019 to determine feasibility, Scania received funding from the Swedish state innovation agency Vinnova. It then launched a full-scale project in January 2021, with the efficient and light-weight solar cells developed by Uppsala University. 

“This is an exciting project where academia and industry together try to decrease the climate impact from truck transports. The results from this unique truck will be very interesting,” said Erik Johansson, project manager and Professor of physical chemistry.

Solar tech on the move

The plug-in hybrid truck/tractor has all the “regular systems” — including 100 kWh energy storage. Meanwhile, the trailer has an additional energy storage capacity of 200kWh, functioning as a “power bank” charged by the solar panels. But naturally, dressing a trailer in photovoltaics comes with a whole specific set of engineering challenges. 

“You have to bear in mind that solar cells are not made to be moving around town in a vehicle. They’re designed to sit stationary on top of a house for 20 or 30 years. We’ve had to address safety challenges in putting solar panels on a vehicle,” Falkgrim added. 

However, he also noted that it was still a research project, and would allow for the possibility of technical snags needing to be fixed along the way. 

 “It’s fairly involved from a technical point of view, but we don’t have that pressure of it being a full-scale project where we’re producing something that will be sold globally to hundreds and thousands of customers. It’s a research project that’s about seeing if the solution makes sense, and so far we believe it does.” 

To hear more about what the experience has been like for Scania engineers working on the project, and see more images of the truck rolling past red little houses and fields, you can check out the video below: