Monday 27 February 2017

Renault-Nissan expand driverless fleet activities

Another automaker is expanding the driverless vehicle bandwagon. Renault-Nissan Alliance and Transdev have signed up to a research contract to develop mobility services system for self-driving vehicles. In so doing they are to jointly develop driverless vehicle fleet system for future public and on-demand transportation.

They are also to collaborate to develop a comprehensive, modular transportation system to enable clients to book rides, and mobility operators to monitor and operate self-driving car fleets.
“As the mobility services landscape keeps evolving, we have a great opportunity to offer innovative, connected mobility solutions for the evolving needs of our customers, fully aligned with our vision of a zero-emission, zero-fatalities society,” said Ogi Redzic, Renault-Nissan Alliance (RNA) senior vice president of Connected Vehicles and Mobility Services.
“Partnering with Transdev allows us to share our knowledge as leaders in electric vehicles, autonomous drive and connected-car technologies with one of the largest multi-modal mobility operators worldwide. Together we will develop an advanced driverless mobility system that will enhance existing public and on-demand transport systems,” he claimed.
The research will initially include field tests in Paris-Saclay with Renault ZOEs, said by RNA to be “the leading electric vehicle” in Europe, and Transdev’s on-demand dispatch, supervision and routing platform.
“The future of mobility will be P.A.C.E. – Personalized, Autonomous, Connected and Electric,” according to Yann Leriche, chief performance officer at Transdev. “As a worldwide leader in public transport and on-demand shared services, we are committed to pioneer in mobility to always offer our clients the best solutions for their journeys. Our partnership with Renault-Nissan will reinforce our innovation capabilities and accelerate our time-to-market by combining our strengths with those of a global car manufacturer that shares the same willingness to enhance daily mobility to the benefit of clients.”
The Renault-Nissan Alliance claims it has been forming partnerships to accelerate the development of advanced connected-car technologies and mobility services. These include a partnership with Microsoft to develop a single global platform that will improve the customer experience by making driving more intuitive, intelligent and fun; and a partnership with Japanese internet company DeNA to begin tests in Japan to develop driverless vehicles for commercial services.
Transdev says it is a pioneer in autonomous vehicle (AV) services. The company is engaged in a series of pilot AV deployments in multiple countries and is currently operating the world’s first commercial driverless service on EDF’s campus in Civaux, France. Transdev is accelerating the development of its AV operating system working with leading partners including Vedecom and SystemX.
Transdev is a 70 per cent owned subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts in which Veolia has a shareholding of 30per cent. Transdev is a consultant for public transport authorities and supports them in everything from the pre-project phase to project management assistance to daily operation of public transport networks. With 83,000 employees in 19 countries, the group operates 43,000 vehicles and 22 tramway networks. In 2015, Transdev had a turnover of €6.6 billion. See also transdev.com
For the record, RNA is a strategic partnership between Groupe Renault of France and Japan-based Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors. The automakers combined sold 9.96 million vehicles in nearly 200 countries in 2016 – more than one in nine vehicles worldwide. The Alliance has strategic collaborations with other automakers, including Germany’s Daimler and China’s Dongfeng. It also owns a majority stake in the joint venture that controls Russia’s leading automaker, AVTOVAZ.
Despite recent allegations with reference to emissions from Renault passenger car diesel engines, the Alliance claims it is the industry leader in “zero-emission vehicles” and is developing “the latest advanced technologies”, with plans to offer autonomous drive and connectivity features and services on a range of affordable vehicles.


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