By: Arye Green
Daimler, the German global automotive giant, announced Monday a trial and development partnership with Israeli cleantech company UBQ Materials to explore the use of UBQ’s climate-positive material in the production of automobile parts.
UBQ Materials is an Israeli company based in the Negev which has developed a process to convert unsorted household waste into a plastic substitute that can be made into everyday goods.
The Daimler Group, one of the biggest producers of cars, including the Mercedes-Benz, and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach, is the first automotive company to partner with UBQ.
Daimler chose to partner with UBQ through Plug and Play’s Startup Autobahn, an innovation platform that connects emerging technologies to pilot opportunities with multinational corporations.
Following further trials and examination, Daimler and UBQ will decide whether the material will be incorporated in vehicles put on the market. Initial results have proven positive.
To produce its thermoplastic material, UBQ breaks down mixed waste streams into their most basic natural components of lignin, cellulose, sugar, and fiber, and creates a new sustainable, composite material, through an energy-efficient process that does not use water, generate wastes, or emit harmful fumes or residues.
As a raw material, UBQ can be made into thousands of applications including shopping carts, pipes, trash cans, and automotive parts. The material has been developed over the last eight years by UBQ scientists.
By diverting waste and its harmful emissions from landfills, incorporating UBQ into a plastic product can eliminate or significantly reduce its carbon footprint.
Based on a lifecycle analysis completed in 2019, UBQ was deemed the “most climate-positive thermoplastic material on the market”, according to Quantis, an international provider of environmental impact assessments.
According to Quantis, a leading provider of environmental impact assessments, every ton of UBQ Material produced, diverts up to 12 tons of CO2 equivalent and has qualified it as the most climate positive thermoplastic material on the planet.
In August, the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority (CVWMA) launched a partnership with UBQ to produce 2,000 recycling bins.
On January 2, TPS reported that the Israeli startup TriEye announced a collaboration with the German sports car manufacturer Porsche to further improve visibility and performance of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles (AV).
TriEye has developed Short-Wave Infra-Red (SWIR) sensing technology, which enhances visibility in adverse weather and night-time conditions. Porsche plans to incorporate the new technology into its future vehicles to enable advanced safety features.
For years, car manufacturers have been looking for a system that can accurately detect and identify all objects on the road, particularly when visibility is limited, at a viable price for consumers.
ADAS systems are expected to operate under a wide range of scenarios and car manufacturers have recognized the need to integrate various kinds of advanced sensory systems into their vehicles.
Each sensory solution has its own unique characteristics regarding visibility, range and price. Radar, lidar, a laser-based technology that measures distances, and standard cameras have all been incorporated into current and planned ADAS’ and AVs.
(TPS)
