Automotive News Canada - November 2020 - 30

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11.20

FINAL ASSEMBLY
Kitchen robots cook up Toyota support
* N O V E M B E R 2 020

LETTING LOOSE A BIT ON THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF AUTOMOTIVE

The repetitive work needed for food
preparation might be eliminated
for restaurants with kitchen robots
partially funded by Toyota.
PHOTO: YPC TECHNOLOGIES

FOR PEOPLE WHO WOULD RATHER
make culinary magic than chop onions
or peel potatoes, thinking robots might
be the solution.
Toyota AI Ventures, the automaker's early-stage venture-capital fund,
has invested in YPC Technologies,
a robotic-kitchen startup based in
Montreal. The total amount wasn't

disclosed by either company, but it's
part of a US $1.8-million seed round
that YPC announced in late October.
Toyota AI Ventures said at CES in
January it would award funding ranging from US $500,000 to $2 million to
early-stage startups in what it's calling a worldwide " call for innovation "
focused on smart, connected cities
using artificial intelligence and robotics.
YPC Technologies said it is developing " a new era of kitchen automation " by building a robot that can pre-

Acura's Thermal Orange Pearl RDX utility vehicle is the brand's fourth model to be hand
assembled by the " master technicians " at the Performance Manufacturing Center in
Marysville, Ohio. The Thermal Orange Pearl NSX supercar is also built there. P H O T O : A C U R A

Orange you glad about
a hand-assembled RDX?
The 30 units for Canada
were sold in advance
AHEAD OF ANOTHER COLD WINTER,
one vehicle is red hot for Acura. Or make
that orange hot.
Honda's luxury brand is building an RDX
PMC Edition for the 2021 model year, painted
in Thermal Orange Pearl with orange stitching throughout the interior.
Only 30 will be built for the Canadian
market, and all have been sold, prepaid in

$1.5 BILLION

How much FCA is willing to spend to retool its
Windsor assembly plant to build electric and/or
plug-in hybrid vehicles.

SAY
WHAT?

The mobility market is changing.
We can't turn the ocean. We've got to
pick our battles and opportunities.
Incoming Magna CEO Swamy Kotagiri
on consumer habits and mobility

full, Acura Canada said.
The RDX PMC Edition combines the
A-Spec sport appearance package with topshelf features from the Platinum Elite package.
It's the automaker's fourth model to be
hand assembled by Acura's " master technicians " at the Performance Manufacturing
Center - hence the PMC designation - in
Marysville, Ohio, which is the home of the
NSX supercar (Thermal Orange Pearl is
an NSX colour). The special-edition RDX is
priced at $61,885, shipping included.
The first customer deliveries were set to
begin in November. - ANC

THIS NUMBER

pare thousands of recipes. The system
takes care of highly repetitive cooking
tasks to help humans increase their
output efficiency.
" We believe that in the future, cities around the world will have hyperlocal, automated kitchens to produce
fresh, restaurant-quality food next
to the consumer, and we're thrilled
to have the support of Toyota AI
Ventures as we continue to grow our
company, " YPC Technologies CEO
Gunnar Grass said in a statement.
- ANC

Montreal firm's creations
do epicurean grunt work

3D-printed mini EV shuttles
are also self-driving...sort of
Staff will be riding
along for this pilot
project, however

Toronto Star.
The buslike units are made
mostly by 3D printers. They
can carry eight people, but
for the pilot project, an operator, who is able to take control, and a Toronto Transit
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.,
Commission or Metrolinx
will be buzzing -
staffer will be on
or whirring, perboard, the newspahaps - with a
per reported.
new public-transit
The shuttles
option as early as
won't move too
spring.
swiftly, just 25
The Olli 2.0 will
km/h.
use computers and
Toronto Mayor
Low-speed
sensors to naviJohn Tory told
gate Scarborough, autonomous
news website CP24
shuttles will
about 25 kilomethat the project
soon be plying
tres east of downis the first step
town Toronto, but the streets of
toward " a brandScarborough.
for safety purposnew way to get a
PHOTO: LOCAL
es, it will actulot more people,
MOTORS INDUSTRIES
ally have more
especially on those
staff aboard than a normal
cold winter days, thinking
Toronto city bus would,
transit for them is a viable
according to a report in the
option. " - ANC

Jeep fans rally to upgrade child's stolen ride-on toy
An ideal replacement was
found 800 kilometres away

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD BRITISH
Columbia girl is back behind the wheel
after a group of enthusiasts and a couple of
auto dealers came to the rescue after her
favourite toy was stolen.
According to several media outlets,
Elianna Tory left her motorized Jeep outside overnight in Sooke, B.C., about 40 kilometres west of Victoria, and awoke to find

it missing. Her mother posted a video on
Facebook asking for help. That's when
Brian Hewitt, a Jeep enthusiast who runs a
fan club called 642 Jeeps, heeded the call.
He shared the video on his group's
Facebook page, and members raised more
than $550 within an hour, enough money to
buy Elianna a new Jeep.
One problem: All the local big-box stores
were out of stock.
Then Hewitt remembered he had seen
one as part of a display at a car dealership,
so he reached out to a friend at Duncan
Dodge, 70 kilometres north of Victoria, who

then found a red Jeep in pristine condition
at a dealership in Vernon, 800 kilometres
away in the interior of B.C.
" Being a dad, it kind of tugged at my
heartstrings a little bit, and so I put the
word out to the Jeep crew, " Hewitt told website Chek News.
A local shipping company got the toy
to Sooke, and Hewitt and a convoy of Jeep
enthusiasts delivered it.
" We put out the video hoping the original
one would be returned, but something more
extraordinary happened instead, " Elianna's
mom, Haily Tory, told Chek News. - ANC

When Elianna Tory's
motorized Jeep went
missing, local enthusiasts
found her a replacement.
PHOTO: BRIAN HEWITT

Automotive News Canada - November 2020

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