Shanghai-based autonomous driving startup Autowise.ai confirmed with KrASIA on Tuesday that the company has formed a joint venture (JV) with Switzerland-headquartered cleaning vehicle maker Boschung.
This JV, called Wibot, of which Autowise and Boschung each hold a 50% stake, will operate fully electric and autonomous street sweeping vehicles which the two companies have already been developing in cooperation since 2019. This sweeper is an adaptation of Urban-Sweeper S2.0, a human-driven sweeper rolled out by Boschung in 2018.
Wibot aims to sell cleaning services enabled by such automated sweepers to cities and companies in Europe and the US, Li Jing, director for corporate strategy and development at Autowise, told KrASIA on Tuesday.
Autowise currently operates a fleet of over fifty autonomous vehicles, rolled out for various municipal and industrial uses in Shanghai, Suzhou, Germany, and other locations, according to the company’s official WeChat public account.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.