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.

Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • September 5, 2016
    Continental focuses on automated truck convoys
    Technology company Continental is developing components and systems for the series launch of the electronic towbar, or platooning, using on an interoperable internet platform, which trucks from different manufacturers and fleet operators can use to form an electronic convoy on the freeway. Braking and sensor data are transmitted wirelessly from the lead vehicle to the following vehicles.
    Read More
  • April 5, 2017
    Autonomous vehicle takes to the road in UK
    An autonomous shuttle is to take to the road as part of the UK GATEway Project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) research into public acceptance of, and attitudes towards, driverless vehicles. In the latest phase of the GATEway Project a prototype shuttle will begin driverless navigation of a 2km route around the Greenwich Peninsula, using advanced sensors and state-of-the-art autonomy software to detect and avoid obstacles whilst carrying members of the public participating in the research stu
    Read More
  • June 28, 2017
    Autonomous grocery delivery trials in Greenwich
    The TRL-led GATEway Project, together with Ocado Technology (a division of Ocado, the online-only supermarket) is running the UK’s first trials of an autonomous vehicle around the Berkeley Homes, Royal Arsenal Riverside development in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London.
    Read More
  • October 3, 2013
    Global ITS market expected to reach US$ 30.2 billion by 2019
    According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research, "Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019," the global market for ITS is expected to reach a value of USD 30.2 billion by 2019, at a CAGR of 11.1 per cent from 2013 to 2019. The demand for ITS systems is rising globally due to increased congestion in metropolitan areas. Development and deployment of intelligent transportation system not only r
    Read More

Highlighted Content