Talk to us
Autonomy kit for ground vehicles
Hainu is a kit of sensors, a computer and four actuators. A certified workshop fits it to an ordinary automatic pickup in two to three days. After that it drives off road with nobody inside.
01 The kit
A header bar, a tailgate bar, both bumpers, both mirrors and the cab. On the Pro kit: two LiDARs, five cameras, three radars, satellite positioning and an onboard computer.
02 Coverage
LiDAR measures the shape of the ground, ahead and behind. Cameras tell what it is. Radar keeps working through dust, smoke and fog.
03 Off road
No driver, and no remote pilot steering every metre. It never goes faster than it can stop inside ground it has confirmed clear. At 25 km/h that means about 28 m of clear track.
04 One map
Each 50 cm cell records which sensors saw it and when. The local path is replanned many times a second, and the route as soon as something blocks it.
Illustration. The vehicle model is a stock Hilux.
The kit
Two LiDARs, five cameras, three radars, satellite positioning and one onboard computer: that is the Pro kit, for unknown routes at up to 40 km/h. The Standard kit has one shorter-range LiDAR, one radar and ultrasonic sensors at the rear, for known routes at about 25 km/h. Four actuators drive the vehicle the way a person does, so both work on almost any automatic.
All four run on the kit's own CAN bus and never touch the vehicle's electronics. A person in the seat can overpower any of them, which hands control straight back.
Both drive themselves, with the same computer, actuators, safety computer and subscription. Standard costs less because its sensors see less far, not because it does less.
How it works
The software runs today in our own off-road simulator, built on Project Chrono, where the tyres sink, slip and bog down in real soil models. Each layer says which parts are running and which are designed.
LiDAR, cameras, radar, RTK GPS and an IMU, each simulated from its real part's datasheet. A thermal camera for people and animals at night is planned.
Running in simulationAn extended Kalman filter fuses GPS, a two-antenna heading and the IMU to about 3 cm. A measurement that disagrees too much is thrown out, which is how a spoofed GPS fix gets rejected. Its confidence caps the speed.
Running in simulation Driving without GPS: designedEvery camera labels each pixel: track, grass, soil, water, trees. The labels are placed on the ground the LiDAR measured, so a pond only the camera can see still stops the vehicle.
Running in simulation Object detection: being moved overOne map around the vehicle in 50 cm cells. The LiDAR fits the ground under each cell. A step of more than 0.22 m, or ground tilted past about 22°, is refused. Camera labels are projected onto the ground the LiDAR measured.
Running in simulationA route over known roads and ground seen as drivable, kept until something blocks it and then repaired. A local path that keeps clear of obstacles. A state-lattice planner for U-turns, three-point turns and escapes. Every refusal comes with a named reason.
Running in simulationAutoware's controllers turn the path into steering, throttle and brake: pure pursuit for the wheel and a PID loop for speed, through a model of the real actuators' delays and limits.
Running in simulationSteering motor, brake actuator, gear actuator and throttle interposer on the kit's own CAN bus.
Designed, bench tests months 1-4A separate computer watches the main one and can only slow or stop the vehicle. The hardware e-stop cuts power to the actuators through a relay, with no software involved.
DesignedA web dashboard shows the map, the route, the cameras, and why the vehicle is doing what it does. Click a point, press GO. Missions travel over the customer's own radio, encrypted and signed. If the link drops, the vehicle stays inside its mission area and returns after a set time.
Dashboard runningWho it's for
Pickup speed
Supply runs on contested roads and casualty evacuation without exposing a second crew. Frontline officers say small robots are too slow to evacuate the wounded. A pickup is not.
1 tower ≈ 25 vehicles
A surveillance tower costs about $1.8 million. The same money buys about 25 Hainus, Standard kit, a used pickup and the first year included, patrolling the ground between towers. Routes driven every day are the ones it drives best.
$4,000 a year
The reduced subscription for humanitarian operators. Send the machine into the field instead of the deminer. No weapons, and close to no export friction.
Also carries
You put anything you need in the car. Hainu drives.
Pricing
Hainu: Standard or Pro kit plus three years at $10,000. Bluewhite: published $35-50k for the kit and installation plus $25-30k a year. Army mule: the US Army's target price per robot for General Dynamics' MUTT, before development and support.
Roadmap
Counted from the day funding closes.
The full autonomy stack drives in our own off-road simulator.
Parts ordered. A left-hand-drive test pickup and a workshop next to private test ground.
The first kit is built and fitted. Actuators proven on the bench.
The vehicle drives itself on private ground, on video. Application to Brave1 to test in Ukraine.
Brave1 accepts. Off road, at night and with GPS jammed. Demonstrations for demining and border customers.
A hardened kit ships to Ukraine, and frontline units run it on real missions.
The written performance report from the front, then the first paid fleet. Evaluation kits loaned to militaries, demining operators and border agencies.
Ministries, border agencies and demining operators: we run the full stack live, and from month five, on our test vehicle in Cyprus.
[email protected]