Urban Transport

Self-driving shuttles heading to New York and California

Self-driving shuttles heading to New York and California
Optimus Ride will be deploying self-driving shuttles to a business park in Brooklyn and a gated community in California later this year
Optimus Ride will be deploying self-driving shuttles to a business park in Brooklyn and a gated community in California later this year
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A development photo from 2017 shows LiDAR and cameras on the Optimus Ride shuttle, though this may not be the vehicle deployed to New York or Fairfield
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A development photo from 2017 shows LiDAR and cameras on the Optimus Ride shuttle, though this may not be the vehicle deployed to New York or Fairfield
The Optimus Ride self-driving shuttles will loop around the Brooklyn development's private roads, connecting New York City ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue over the Yard's boundary
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The Optimus Ride self-driving shuttles will loop around the Brooklyn development's private roads, connecting New York City ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue over the Yard's boundary
Optimus Ride will be deploying self-driving shuttles to a business park in Brooklyn and a gated community in California later this year
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Optimus Ride will be deploying self-driving shuttles to a business park in Brooklyn and a gated community in California later this year
Optimus Ride says that its self driving technology is vehicle agnostic
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Optimus Ride says that its self driving technology is vehicle agnostic
Optimus Ride's self-driving shuttles will start ferrying prospective residents around Paradise Valley Estates later this year
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Optimus Ride's self-driving shuttles will start ferrying prospective residents around Paradise Valley Estates later this year
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MIT spin-off Optimus Ride has announced today that its autonomous shuttles will shortly be transporting workers around geofenced areas of the Brooklyn Navy Yard – a 300 acre industrial park with 400 businesses and 9,000 workers – and ferrying residents along defined routes in the 80 acre private community of Paradise Valley Estates in Fairfield, CA.

Self-driving shuttle services have been nudging their way into cities around the globe of late, including Sweden, Singapore and Finland. But the Brooklyn project, which is due to launch during Q2 of this year, will be the first commercial self-driving vehicle program in New York state. The vehicles will loop around the development's private roads, connecting New York City ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue over the Yard's boundary.

The Optimus Ride self-driving shuttles will loop around the Brooklyn development's private roads, connecting New York City ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue over the Yard's boundary
The Optimus Ride self-driving shuttles will loop around the Brooklyn development's private roads, connecting New York City ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue over the Yard's boundary

In the second half of the year, Optimus Ride shuttles will roll into the private, gated community of Paradise Valley Estates, initially offering potential buyers tours of the estate. Residents will subsequently be able to reserve or hail rides between properties or to the health center and other amenities.

Optimus Ride's self-driving shuttles will start ferrying prospective residents around Paradise Valley Estates later this year
Optimus Ride's self-driving shuttles will start ferrying prospective residents around Paradise Valley Estates later this year

Beyond a few images showing four and six door people movers, Optimus Ride hasn't revealed anything about its vehicles, stating only that its technology is vehicle agnostic, so could be deployed to a "wide variety of vehicles."

Source: Optimus Ride

View gallery - 5 images
2 comments
2 comments
Daishi
They said its vehicle agnostic but the development vehicle in the photo is definitely a Polaris GEM e6.
Username
Daishi, what they mean is that their technology is vehicle platform independent, which means it can be adapted to any vehicle. Including, obviously, a GEM e6.