Oregon's Arcimoto has agreed to supply tourism company GoCar with 310 electric Fun Utility Vehicles that will include autonomous driving technologies developed by Faction. The first vehicles will launch a pilot program in Las Vegas next year.
The electric three-wheeler certainly seems to live up to its name, featuring two motors up front that are good for a 7.5 second sprint to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) on the way to top speeds of 75 mph (121 km/h), while onboard batteries are reckoned good for a per-charge city range of more than 100 miles (165 km).
The driver sits in a heated bucket seat up front and steers the vehicle like a motorcycle, while a passenger rides pillion behind. There are removable doors, the option to install "West Coast" half doors, and a panoramic roof.
GoCar Tours is the brainchild of Nathan Withrington and Alasdair Clements, and launched in San Francisco in 2004. The two-seat GoCars have a GPS system installed that's used to guide tourists to key landmarks in a city, while a virtual tour guide provides commentary through built-in speakers, as well as cracking jokes, recommending restaurants and telling "the legendary stories that bring each city to life."
From 2023, tourists visiting Las Vegas will be able to rent one of 20 specially equipped Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV). As well as offering clean and quiet city exploration, each FUV will feature DriveLink and TeleAssist technologies from Faction for autonomous or remote human teleoperation capabilities.
"This is an incredible innovation on so many levels, dramatically improving our customer rental experience while driving down the cost of fleet operations," said GoCar's co-founder, Nathan Withrington. "I love that a customer will be able to reserve a GoCar, it will driverlessly arrive at their location, they get in and take the controls, getting the same award-winning GoCar experience, stopping wherever they like when they like. And then, when they head back to their hotels, the Arcimoto will driverlessly return to GoCar. It’s magic."
Assuming the Las Vegas pilot goes well, up to 290 more Faction-infused Arcimoto FUVs will be deployed to GoCar fleets in San Francisco and San Diego in California, and eventually Barcelona in Spain.
Source: Arcimoto