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CANVAS Technology to Provide Autonomous Driving IndoorsCANVAS Technology, a company that has been working in secret for the last year, publicly announced their company today and revealed that they are building what they term "automotive-level" autonomous driving for indoor operation. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160928005439/en/ 
View of factory floor aisle from CANVAS autonomous-vision technology. (Graphic: Business Wire) The company says that while autonomous cars and trucks receive a lot of attention, the complexities of driving at speed outdoors means that commercial viability is still a distant future. CANVAS is applying the same caliber of autonomous technology used in automotive to a more constrained problem - autonomously moving goods and materials indoors through factories and warehouses. CANVAS technology is offerin what they call incredibly powerful localization, mapping, planning and navigation that they say seamlessly handles the complexities of the real world, including people, moving vehicles, stairs and drops, bright lights, and real-time changes to the environment. "The methods available to move goods and materials from factories to end consumers are outdated and waste tremendous time, cost and fuel," said Jonathan McQueen, CEO of CANVAS Technology. "Moving goods and materials autonomously is achievable now and can help companies develop a competitive advantage." To accurately capture the diverse environments found in factories and warehouses requires a high-fidelity 3D sensor. To accomplish this, CANVAS has developed their own proprietary camera solution. When paired with sophisticated algorithms, this vision-based autonomy can power systems which can be more accurate, flexible and safe. Nima Keivan, an engineer and co-founder of CANVAS Technology, spent the past decade researching and developing computer vision algorithms. "Facets of vision-based autonomy include rich perception abilities, knowing where you are, and context-sensitive behavior, especially in a dynamic environment," he noted. McQueen added, "We are beginning indoors because there is significant demand for a better system, and safe autonomous driving indoors is an easier problem to solve first. The experience we gain indoors will pave the way for successful outdoor delivery as well," said McQueen. CANVAS Technology says their autonomous material moving solution is already operating in pilots, but for now they aren't releasing product details publicly. About CANVAS Technology CANVAS Technology is a robotics company with a mission to provide end-to-end autonomous delivery of goods. We're creating safe and powerful autonomous technology that can power both indoor and outdoor driving. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160928005439/en/ |
