eve autonomy, which provides the Level 4 autonomous transport solution “eve auto” primarily for factories and logistics facilities, announced on the 12th that it has raised 1 billion yen in a Series B extension round. Yamaha Motor and Tier IV participated in this additional capital increase. Yamaha Motor is supporting the company’s business growth by leveraging its mobility technology and manufacturing expertise. Tier IV is advancing technology development based on the open-source autonomous driving software “Autoware” and provides the core autonomous driving technology for the company’s solutions. To address labor shortages and improve operational efficiency in factories and logistics facilities, automated systems such as AGVs and AMRs have become widespread indoors, but outdoor transport between buildings has remained a difficult area to automate, with manual operations still predominant. Therefore, eve auto combines the technology of EV golf carts with high traversability and Autoware autonomous driving software used worldwide to provide a new solution for logistics sites as a safe and efficient unmanned transport service in outdoor environments, supporting customers in solving their logistics challenges. The unmanned transport service eve auto provided by eve autonomy is a solution for implementing automated transport systems that has been available as an official service since November 2022. It can be introduced for factories and logistics facilities, mainly in outdoor areas, without requiring prior facility construction. Everything necessary for outdoor unmanned transport operations is packaged, and necessary elements are provided as a subscription (usage fee) type package. In outdoor environments, operations are required in more severe conditions than indoors, including surface conditions such as steps and slopes, as well as weather conditions such as rain and sunlight. This service utilizes EV carts and cutting-edge autonomous driving technology that is also used on public roads to achieve unmanned transport operations at autonomous driving Level 4 in outdoor environments within factory premises even in rainy or nighttime conditions. It can be operated in facilities that require 24-hour operation, and currently, more than 70 units are operating at approximately 40 locations nationwide. While it started as an outdoor unmanned transport service within factory premises, its operating locations are now expanding beyond factories to include logistics facilities and energy/chemical plants. With this additional investment, the company will focus on exploring new markets in addition to its existing customer base of factories and logistics facilities, aiming to expand the range of service provision to meet the automation and efficiency needs of more companies. via PR TIMES