This startup applies AI to street cleaning services

Street cleaning services are essential for city management, as they prevent trash from building up while keeping neighborhoods tidy and clean. However, it is a strenuous job that requires a large workforce and could be optimized with the help of technology.

This is what architect Chen Shuo wanted to address when his company, Zero Carbon System, developed an AI-based driverless street sweeper. First produced in 2019, the firm’s cleaner machine, equipped with a camera and powered by an AI processor, is able to automatically clean streets while recognizing different types of trash, including plastic bottles, glass bottles, and litter. This way, the machine can also separate the waste according to the trash type, Chen told KrAsia.

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Street cleaning services present an ideal opportunity for AI technology, as a single vehicle can replace eight to 10 human cleaners, according to Chen. Also, since cleaning work is similar across the world, this product could be applied globally without needing major localization, Chen believes.

Around the world, more than 500 million people are engaged in jobs related to cleaning, he explained, while the domestic market size for cleaning services in China could hit 350 billion yuan (US$49 billion) by the end of this year, according to market research firm AskCI Consulting.

Currently, Zero Carbon System already counts the government of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, as a key client, and is courting cleaning service providers, building management companies, and government organizations for its AI street sweeper machines. In Jiangsu, the firm established a fleet of 200 vehicles under a pilot operation, Chen said.

From low carbon architecture to AI

Shanghai-headquartered Zero Carbon System did not initially focus on AI when it was first founded in 2010. Chen, who studied architecture at Cambridge University, was passionate about applying low-carbon solutions to reduce environmental pollution.

“We founded Zero Carbon System with the aim to help the world to fight against global climate change and environmental pollution, by adopting cutting-edge technologies to lower carbon emissions to zero. This is something I wanted to devote my career for, through my whole life,” Chen told KrAsia.

With that goal in mind, Chen and his team completed many low-carbon district planning projects. For example, his company built a low-carbon resort at Tunchang Muse Lake in Hainan province, where the company applied water conservation, new energy utilization, ecological farming, and waste utilization to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Zero Carbon System has also built a series of low-carbon buildings, including a photovoltaic equipment inspection center in Shanghai for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a low-carbon exhibition center for real estate developer Vanke.

However, Chen started to realize that low-carbon building planning was not enough for him to achieve his goal of helping people live in better city environments, he said. “Although the architecture projects we were previously working on could bring us revenues of hundreds of millions of yuan, it could probably just change the life of one group of people.”

He turned to AI to fulfill his vision.

“By applying AI to environmental protection and urban planning, our products can reach more people and change their everyday lives. We believe the more we are able to offer, the more significant changes our technology and products can bring to society as a whole.”

Chen and his team established a business division dedicated to AI within Zero Carbon System three years ago and started developing their self-driving AI-based street sweeper.

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