GreenPower Motor Company Inc. is partnering with Perrone Robotics Inc. (PRI) to build fully autonomous electric transit vehicles based on GreenPower’s EV Star shuttle platform.

A designer, manufacturer and distributor of a diverse line of electric powered buses for the transit, shuttle, tourist and school sectors, Greenpower was founded a decade ago with the intent to bring the “most compelling” zero-emissions buses to the market.

The only manufacturer in North America that produces electric buses for transit, shuttle, tourist, and school operations, Greenpower uses what it calls a “Start from Scratch” approach where each vehicle features a clean sheet design that ensures a safe, durable and reliable form of zero-emissions transportation. Greenpower’s electric buses are described as “purpose-built, designed from the ground-up and made to last.”

Meanwhile, Perrone Robotics created its TONY (TO Navigate You) general autonomy technology based on its experience of automating 30 different platforms and driving 34,000 autonomous miles. The technology is designed to be integrated into existing vehicles.

With almost two decades’ worth of experience building autonomous vehicles, PRI focuses on the transit space to deploy “proven, trusted, and commercially available” vehicles into “more realistic and viable deployments” than those possible with slow-speed shuttles.

“The TONY solution is easily integrated into our vehicles at assembly and allows the vehicles to be used normally or autonomously via PRI’s solution. This offers our customers autonomy when they want it, and the full use of the vehicle otherwise,” explains Brendan Riley, president of GreenPower Motor Company.

“Further, PRI’s solution is designed to easily allow new technologies to be integrated as they emerge without having to rewrite the code. This gives our customers ‘future-proofing’ with regard to autonomy.”