BP (NYSE: BP) has announced that it has successfully completed an autonomous vehicle trial at its Lingen refinery in Germany, working with Oxbotica.
The trial, which is the latest addition to the BP ventures technology portfolio, was said to be a world-first in the energy sector. During the test, the vehicle travelled over 110 miles autonomously, navigating the environment of the BP refinery. Following the trial, BP said it aims to deploy its first autonomous vehicle for monitoring operations at the refinery by the end of the year.
“This relationship is an important example of how BP is leveraging automation and digital technology that we believe can improve safety, increase efficiency and decrease carbon emissions in support of our net zero ambition,” Morag Watson, the senior vice president of digital science and engineering at BP, said in a company statement.
“Intelligent technology like this helps us make the incremental but equally critical improvements to our operations, so we can continue to focus on delivering the energy the world needs in the way that it wants. I am looking forward to working with Oxbotica to explore how we can unlock the full potential of autonomy,” Watson added.
Ozgur Tohumcu, the chief executive officer at Oxbotica, said, “as part of our first refinery trial in Lingen, we showcased how autonomy improves safety, reduces emissions and improves productivity”.
“The investment from BP will allow us to scale our autonomous software platform across the energy ecosystem with a number of planned use cases and unlock the true power of universal autonomy,” Tohumcu added.
Oxbotica is described as a global leader in autonomous vehicle software. The company, which BP recently invested $13 million in, was founded in 2014 as an Oxford University spin-out with a mission to develop autonomy software that will transform all industries where people and goods move.
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