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In the region, truck manufacturers in Brazil are leading the process of producing more sustainable vehicles, either with electric models, or vehicles powered by natural gas or biomethane. One of the Brazilian manufacturers, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus (VWCO), started assembly line production of the first 100 e-delivery electric trucks for the company AMbev and its distributors, which plan to purchase 1,600 trucks by 2023. These vehicles will initially be used for deliveries in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where proprietary solar power plants are being installed to recharge their batteries, which offer a range of 200 km on a full charge. The cost of the vehicles remains undisclosed; however, given the cost of the battery (imported), it should be between 2 and 2.8 times higher than the diesel version. (NTC y Logística, 2020). In the case of urban mobility, autonomous buses would have the following additional characteristics that make them an especially interesting proposition for Latin American cities owing to advantages in terms of safety, comfort, predictability of travel times and reduction of waiting times due to greater interval regularity (Tirachini, 2020): • Fitting of sensors along the entire length of the bus helps to prevent collisions and accidents. • Bus precision docking: computerized support to ensure a small and constant separation between vehicle and platform at stops. • Speed control: regularity of travel times and intervals between vehicles. • Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication, from traffic lights for example, helps to promote the prioritization of public transport over private cars. • Ecodriving: 5%–10% energy-cost savings, depending on the type of engine and fuel used.
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Advances in automated vehicles for freight logistics
The versatility of ground transportation makes it the most efficient way to deliver goods within cities, between regions and even internationally. Technological advances for light-duty vehicles include all alternative and low-emission fuels available on the international market, but closer inspection of the heavy-duty vehicle segment shows offerings decrease abruptly, with energy replacement possibilities limited to small fleets that have ventured into biofuels, natural gas or LPG, as well as some electric prototypes that have the still-pending issue of battery range. In the case of mobility for people and last-mile logistics, leading vehicle makes already have their own lines of electric cars, many of which are already on the streets of Latin America and the rest of the world. The most advanced prototypes, which are also autonomous, have been developed by technology companies primarily in the United States state of California, which must comply with a number of local regulations, such as the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), to operate a vehicle on United States soil. Those standards require vehicles to comply with a number of specific minimum features such as steering wheels, rear-view mirrors and transparent windshields when used for passenger transport, in addition to other design and road safety requirements. Zoox, an Amazon company, unveiled an autonomous electric taxi for transporting people that also allows the possibility of ridesharing on demand. Its sensor-laden design is capable of bi-directional driving, with four-wheel independence to allow it to manoeuvre in tight spaces and change direction without the need to reverse. Inside, it has a four-seat symmetrical (face-to-face) seating configuration, similar to what a train passenger might encounter, and it is equipped with a 133-kilowatt-hour battery that allows it to run for up to 16 hours continuously on a single charge. The vehicle has cameras and radar that give it a 270-degree field of view at all four corners to constantly track objects beside and behind it, including pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users (Tech Crunch, 2020). This model has already been submitted to federal motor vehicle safety regulators and passed crash and safety test standards, but it has not yet received FMVSS approval to operate in the United States.
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