Electric, self-driving shuttle announces U.S. launch at CES

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday, French company Induct Technology announced the U.S. launch of its electric, self-driving shuttle Navia.

Navia has already been deployed via partnerships in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Singapore. The shuttle, which was originally announced in Europe in 2011, guides itself using laser-mapping technology and sensors that detect the vehicle’s acceleration and rotation, without the need for additional infrastructure. Using an onboard touchscreen, passengers can select a destination when they board, and Navia does the rest. The shuttle travels at 12.5 mph, can carry up to eight passengers, and can be set to follow a specific route or be summoned by smartphone. It’s also fully electric and recharged by induction, which allows it to run continuously.

“Imagine a city without noisy, polluting buses, replaced by environmentally-friendly, robotic shuttle buses that can be summoned by your mobile phone,” Induct CEO Pierre Lefevre said in a statement. “Navia is completely self-driving, 100-percent electric, emission free, safe and simple to use. It is the ideal solution for taking pedestrians that ‘last mile’ in city centers, industrial sites, theme parks, campuses, complexes and more.”

Induct Technology was founded in 2004 near Paris to focus on embedded geo-location systems and wireless communications solutions. Below is a video of its shuttle in action:

Live demos of the vehicle are taking place throughout CES.

[ photo courtesy of Induct ]