Navya to provide self-driving shuttles for large scale deployment within the EU-funded ULTIMO project

Villeurbanne, France, June 1^st, 2022 – 07:30 CEST – NAVYA (FR0013018041- Navya), an autonomous mobility systems leader, is one of a consortium of foremost companies selected to make up the ULTIMO project, which is financed by the European Commission and the Federal Government of Switzerland within the framework of the Horizon Europe research and innovation program.

ULTIMO is the successor to the AVENUE project, which was launched in May 2018 with the aim of speeding up the development of transportation by autonomous vehicles across the cities of Europe. Within the project, thirteen NAVYA shuttles underwent trials in six European cities: Lyon, Luxembourg, Geneva, Copenhagen, Esch-sur-Alzette and Sion.

The AVENUE trials were carried out by a consortium of partner companies, each one chosen for its high level of commitment to the development of new types of mobility. Together they demonstrated how self-driving shuttles could be integrated in a city’s existing public transport system and offer users an ever more innovative experience, including transportation on demand. NAVYA’s shuttles offered the citizens of each urban area specific use cases: within the confines of a stadium in Lyon, throughout the grounds of a hospital in Geneva and Copenhagen, over a business park in Luxembourg and as links to the city centers of Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg and of Sion in Switzerland.

ULTIMO promotes user-centric sustainable mobility through the large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicles

The success of the trials prompted the AVENUE team to step up their ambitions, which resulted in a widening of their operations with a view to bringing them to market. They brought together experts in the field of autonomous mobility, connectivity and related services to participate in the ULTIMO project to:

• deploy self-driving shuttles on a large scale, with transportation on demand managed by a mobile phone application,
• conduct trials of a multi fleet and multi OEM management system,
• analyze the key innovation fields in order to standardize the connectivity processes.

ULTIMO represents NAVYA’s largest self-driving shuttle deployment in Europe

This multi-vendor project has 2 priority partners for the supply of shuttles, including Navya, with a total potential for deployment of up to 45 vehicles in three European cities over the next four years.

The official announcement will take place during the summer of 2022 and the launch in October of the same year, once all the partner companies of the consortium have confirmed their participation and completed the necessary formalities.

“ULTIMO builds on the experience and success of the AVENUE project and backs up the dominant role self-driving shuttles will play in the public transportation offer. Our shuttles will be deployed in urban environments in user-centric conditions based on operational models that are both commercially viable and sustainable. This is a crucial step that marks the transition from experimentation to the deployment of our shuttles on a large scale. Furthermore, it is the first time that an autonomous mobility deployment project brings together autonomous solution providers and large fleet managers to work together and offer common solutions and interfaces for operators of public transportation. Our team will play its part in making ULTIMO a success for NAVYA and for the development of sustainable autonomous mobility.”

Sophie Desormière, CEO of Navya

The  ULTIMO project is backed by the EU-funded Horizon Europe research and innovation program.

About NAVYA

NAVYA is a leading French company that specializes in the supply of autonomous mobility systems and related services. It was founded in 2014 and has a total of 280 employees in France (Paris and Lyon), in the United States (Michigan) and in Singapore. NAVYA’s aim is to become the benchmark provider of level 4 autonomous mobility systems for the transportation of people and goods. The company achieved a world first when it launched its Autonom^® Shuttle for passengers in 2015. Since that year and up until 31 December 2021, more than 200 vehicles were sold in 25 countries. In 2021 Navya launched its industry equivalent, the Autonom^® Tract, a tractor for the transportation of goods. The company is firmly and actively committed to CSR, and it was awarded the ISO 9001 certification in September 2021. The Valeo and Keolis groups count among Navya’s historical shareholders.
NAVYA is listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013018041- Navya). For further information, visit our website: www.navya.tech

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