Auto Business Outlook: Specials Magazine

Minimizing waste and striving toward zero waste to landfill has been a priority for the U.S. automotive industry for decades. As we look to the next generation of industry sustainability ambitions, we have seen that many of the leading automotive manufacturers and suppliers are working to build on that history of success and are swiftly amplifying commitments to the use of sustainable practices and materials in the production and content of their products, and packaging. Within the industry association Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP), automakers and their suppliers are coming together to collaborate on such automotive industry sustainability goals and to work to advance action on the path towards the industry’s carbon neutral, circular, and sustainable ambitions. In recent months the SP organization has developed new industry guidelines on key topics such as tracking and reducing carbon within the automotive supply chain, measuring the use of recycled and renewable materials in automotive products, and handling EV batteries for recycling or reuse. Under the SP umbrella, we are leading a team of sustainability and packaging experts from across automakers, their tiered suppliers and packaging vendors, and recyclers, working to tackle another important issue – minimizing the environmental impact of the packaging materials required to ship automotive parts damage free along the supply chain. Companies, big and small, from each segment of the value chain have joined us to share their knowledge and lessons learned, and to co-develop new ideas and solutions to improve packaging sustainability.

While most discussions about autonomous vehicles focus on the cars themselves, long-term profitability depends on building a robust operational backbone—one that reduces operating costs and maximizes uptime for robotaxi and autonomous fleets. Behind the scenes, JetX is building the infrastructure that autonomous fleets depend on to operate with minimal interruption, optimized economics, and long-term commercial sustainability. The company is building the “physical intelligence layer” that enables autonomous vehicles, from robotaxis to privately owned cars, to perform critical tasks such as charging, cleaning, and diagnostics with minimal human involvement. This infrastructure is quickly becoming indispensable as the world moves toward fully autonomous transportation, and JetX is ensuring that it evolves in a way that is scalable, cost-effective, and reliable. At the heart of JetX’s solutions is a platform that seamlessly integrates robotics, IoT, and fleet management software. By automating tasks such as robotic charging, autonomous washing, and real-time diagnostics, the company is helping fleets operate efficiently, even in the most demanding environments. Its systems ensure that autonomous vehicles can take care of themselves, from charging to cleaning, without the need for human intervention. This level of automation is vital for the commercial viability of autonomous fleets, which struggle with operational costs when vehicles are left idle for maintenance tasks. “We are revolutionizing vehicle services,” says Frank Rexach, president of JetX, highlighting the company’s role in transforming vehicle care. JetX’s core solutions, such as the JetX Energy Arm (robotic charging), a range of JetX Car Washing solutions (sensor-safe cleaning), and FleetCare (predictive maintenance and intelligent scheduling), are built to work together within a single integrated platform. These solutions are not only for robotaxis; they will soon be available to everyday drivers, enabling them to send their cars off to clean and charge themselves while they go about their day. The company’s impact is already being felt on a global scale. JetX has established live deployments in Asia with industry leaders such as Didi and Pony AI. In Didi’s robotaxi operations, JetX’s sensor-safe cleaning systems have reduced costly downtime caused by damaged sensors, including LiDAR, which is critical for autonomous driving..