Robotic Research to begin testing fully autonomous shuttles without onboard attendants

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Starting in the second quarter of 2020, Robotic Research LLC will begin testing fully autonomous low-speed shuttles that are totally unmanned.

Instead of having the attendants onboard, they will be in fixed on-site locations, with the eventual goal of moving them to an offsite safety monitoring facility.

“Through our work with the U.S. government over the past four years, we have already demonstrated that fully autonomous trucks are a reality. We are committed to making our shuttle and bus manufacturing partners successful by accelerating state-of-the-art technologies for unmanned vehicles ahead of regulatory agencies’ progress,” says Alberto Lacaze, president of Robotic Research.

“The advancements driven by the Robotic Research team will provide a product that significantly reduces the cost of operation and therefore improves market size.”

For nearly 10 years, Robotic Research has been developing and testing unmanned, autonomous operations for a variety of vehicles. Currently, the company provides autonomy kits that fully automate logistics convoy trucks for the U.S. government, as well as several of its allied nation partners, with nearly 100 trucks having already been delivered. Testing for these vehicles have included operations with no safety attendants on board, with a single operator monitoring three unmanned vehicles.

Vehicles of all sizes can be equipped with Robotic Research’s AutoDrive autonomy kit, which is platform agnostic. The system provides autonomous functionality on a wide range of surfaces, all while the vehicle is collecting and analyzing data to “better enhance the future of autonomous vehicles and transportation,” according to Robotic Research.

Local Motors’ Olli autonomous shuttles utilize Robotic Research’s technology. The largest bus manufacturer in North America, New Flyer of America Inc., also utilizes Robotic Research’s technology.

Currently operating in communities and cities across the globe, including 30 states and four continents, Robotic Research's AutoDrive kit supports a number of different autonomy programs in commercial and government sectors.