At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, automotive supplier ZF said it was partnering with Beep to deliver thousands of shuttles to customers.
Beep, a company that describes itself as a mobility-as-a-service company, will implement the next generation of Level 4 shuttles from ZF. The vehicle can drive itself if it is within the operational design domain of the vehicle. The shuttle will be built in partnership with Oxbotica and is designed for urban environments.
The previous shuttle model only drove in designated lanes A total of 62 million autonomously driven kilometers in real traffic with more than 14 million passengers have been achieved by the 2get there shuttles.
The new shuttle will implement a number of new technologies that were unveiled in Las Vegas, including a platform that enables communications with surrounding infrastructure and the cloud, and a device that can support advanced driver assistance systems. The virtual driver is enabled by the two platforms.
The rise of electric vehicles has resulted in increased communication within the vehicle, which means everything from opening and closing windows to automated driving features is controlled via computers. Instead of putting electronic control units on top of each other, suppliers are putting them into so-called super computers. The new ProAI combines multiple systems-on-a-chip from different suppliers into one hardware unit that's more efficient and takes up less space.
The image is courtesy of ZF.
The need for a new piece of hardware is something that Nvidia is seeing. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the tech giant announced that it would work with the Taiwanese company to create a system that could replace a number ofECUs in a vehicle dedicated to different tasks.
The latest version of Proai can handle up to 1,500 TOPS, which is 50% more than the previous version. More than 13 million units have been ordered by the company and it expects more growth in the future.
A rendering of the interior of a vehicle.
The shuttle will be able to carry 22 passengers. The car is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The shuttle will hit a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour, and then go up to 50 miles per hour in the future. Up to 80 miles can be covered in pure electric mode with a 100 kWh battery capacity.
The agreement between Beep and ZF aims to deliver several thousand shuttles over the next few years, with a market entry for ZF's next-gen shuttle starting in 2025, and a ramp up of production in mid-2026, according to Torsten Gollewski.
Beep said it was evaluating a number of possible sites for the deployment of the shuttles.
Beep has already been put in place with concrete routes. The operational scenario is being worked on by us. We will talk about this in more detail in the future. One of the advantages of our shuttle solutions is the ability to operate in mixed traffic as well as in dedicated lanes, depending on the kind of solution needed and the most efficient way of delivering that that we can.
The majority of Beep's current deployment are in closed campuses. Beep provides a shuttle service in Lake Nona, Fla., within a 17 square mile development that connects residential, commercial, retail, recreational and medical services The company is working with a technology park in Georgia to test shuttles on a path.
Beep's CEO said that ZF's full suite of shuttle services, its U.S. partner network and its automotive-grade vehicle complement the company's technology platform. The shuttle will allow us to pursue our vision of extending mobility equity and reducing carbon emissions while meeting industrial requirements for vehicle service life, performance and safety.
Beep and any other future partners are offered by the company because it is an automotive supplier. There are over 3000 workshop partners in North America.
Gollewski said that the company sees itself not only as a shuttle supplier, but also as a partner for the entire lifecycle of its shuttles. Fleet management, maintenance, repair and training are just some of the services offered by the partnership.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
