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

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Over 100 micro-mobility vehicles will be launched by 2018
    April 11, 2012
    As the cost of global congestion inches towards the $1 trillion mark, key economies including Europe, North America, Japan and China amongst others prepare for a green-commute blueprint. Some 16 of the key automotive OEMs are working on more than 110 short distance vehicles, with approximately 50 models being already production ready. The remaining 60 are in concept stage, but expected to become production ready by 2020. The emergence of such micro-mobility vehicles is expected to fight congestion, ease par
    Read More
  • Insight into China's smart cities initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    Schneider Electric, which has been playing an active role in smart transportation systems in China since 1990, provides an insight into smart city initiatives in the country. Today, most cities across the world are facing unprecedented growth, which questions the viability of the current development model. They are immersed in a competition with each other, both domestically and internationally, in terms of investments, jobs and talents. Cities need to become more attractive and intelligent by becoming more
    Read More
  • Vehicle intelligence systems market ‘worth US$20.11 billion’
    June 15, 2016
    The latest research by MarketsandMarkets, Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market by Road Scene Understanding, Advanced Driver Assistance & Monitoring, predicts that the global market for vehicle intelligence systems will grow at a CAGR of 12.24%, from US$11.29 Billion in 2016 to US$20.11 Billion by 2021. Given the increasingly stringent safety norms, automotive OEMs are focusing on enhancing the safety of vehicles. To ensure the safety of the driver, passengers, and pedestrians, the vehicle needs to be inte
    Read More
  • ITS associations highlight road safety, video analysis, new regulations
    December 19, 2016
    ITS Australia has welcomed the country's National Transport Commission's roadmap of regulatory reform for automated vehicles, Ertico-ITS Europe has been appointed as the work-package leader for dissemination, exploitation and standardisation for the EU’s Cloud LSVA, French opportunities in the Italian ITS market formed the theme of ITS France’s first international breakfast meeting, TTS Italia vice president Diego Galletta highlighted the role of new technology solutions, Chris Philip, ITS Canada’s new boar
    Read More

Highlighted Content