Skip to main content

Continental invests in EasyMile, pushes ahead with autonomous vehicles

Technology company Continental has agreed to acquire a minority share French autonomous shuttle manufacturer EasyMile and the companies plan to cooperate closely in the development of environmental sensors, braking systems and driving safety technologies.
July 5, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Technology company 260 Continental has agreed to acquire a minority share French autonomous shuttle manufacturer 8246 EasyMile and the companies plan to cooperate closely in the development of environmental sensors, braking systems and driving safety technologies.

Continental believes that autonomous shuttles are set to play a key role in efficiently addressing the ‘first mile – last mile’ challenge, enabling seamless mobility services for urban mobility.

Continental says its investment opens the door to numerous possible applications within EasyMile shuttles worldwide, while incorporating tried and tested large-scale production techniques from the automotive field. The EasyMile EZ10 fleet will be running on Continental EcoContact tyres with optimised tread geometry, ensuring low rolling resistance and rolling noise.

The complex requirements of driverless vehicles are already being studied under real conditions at Continental’s premises in Frankfurt with its development platform CUbE (Continental Urban mobility Experience), which is based on an EasyMile EZ10 shuttle.

The EasyMile EZ10 shuttle is a twelve-person autonomous shuttle first released in 2014, which has been deployed in more than 50 cities across 17 countries in Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe. Continental began testing automated systems on public roads in 2012 in Nevada, USA. The company now has a global operating fleet of development vehicles in Germany, the USA, Japan and China.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Fleet management market worth US$30.45 billion by 2018
    December 18, 2013
    MarketsandMarkets recently conducted a study on the "Fleet Management Market (Fleet Analytics; Vehicle Tracking & Fleet Monitoring; Telematics; Vendor Services) By Vehicles (Trucks; Light Goods; Buses; Corporate Fleets; Container Ships; Aircrafts) Worldwide Market Forecasts and Analysis (2013 - 2018)", which analysed and studied the major market drivers, restraints and opportunities in North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. The study indicates that the fleet manageme
  • Full steam ahead to achieve Continental’s Vision Zero goal
    June 5, 2018
    Continental’s Vision Zero goal of zero accidents and zero fatalities is achievable and the technology company will discuss and demonstrate the way forward globally. The future of mobility will be one with no traffic accidents or fatalities, according to Continental, based in Hannover, Germany. City infrastructure will communicate with vehicles to take drivers from point A to B at the push of a button - safely dropped off anywhere without fighting for a parking spot. Continental’s intelligent intersections
  • Favourable legislation essential for developing successful test sites, finds Frost & Sullivan
    May 26, 2016
    New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Global Test Sites and Incentive Programs for Automated Cars, finds unfavourable legislation in many parts of the world can delay the testing, validation and subsequent introduction of automated vehicle technologies by a few years. Despite the availability of advanced automated functional testing in several parts of the world, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and automotive technology providers favour North American test beds to the ones in Europe and Asia, says
  • Consortium tests autonomous bus in Greece 
    February 10, 2021
    Iseauto is part of the EU-funded Fabulos project to see how cities can use passenger AVs