University of Michigan Debuts Navya’s Arma Driverless Shuttle
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Navya’s Arma driverless shuttle has debuted on the campus of the University of Michigan. The 15-passenger vehicle will provide self-guided tours of Mcity, the university’s test site for autonomous vehicles.
“This is a landmark day for NAVYA,” said Navya CEO Christophe Sapet via press release. “Mcity is a great partner and Michigan the perfect place to deploy the first NAVYA ARMA. We expect our expansion in North America to be broad and decisive in the coming months.”
The launch of the driverless shuttle at the University of Michigan establishes a new partnership between Navya and the Mobility Transformation Center (MTC), the entity that operates Mcity. Being that the shuttle is the first of its kind in the United States, MTC Deputy Director Carrie Morton feels this partnership is especially significant.
“We're excited that the ARMA at Mcity is the first in North America,” Morton said. “By showcasing the ARMA’s capabilities completely driving itself in Mcity, we can help open the imagination of others to the potential of autonomous vehicle technology.”
Besides giving tours of Mcity, the shuttle will also provide data for research efforts led by TechLab, an experiential incubator that matches startup companies with engineering students at the University of Michigan, to give those students the opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom to real world tech development applications.
With a partnership between Navya and TechLab set to officially start in January of 2017, TechLab instructor Jay Ellis said, “We are excited to have NAVYA as a partner in the upcoming semester of TechLab.”
“It is becoming more apparent that the collaboration between university researchers, advanced mobility startups and student innovators is key in pushing the boundaries of autonomous and connected vehicle technologies and bringing these innovations closer to market.”
Video footage of the shuttle in operation can be seen here.
