Skip to main content

Ohmio to produce self-driving vehicles in New Zealand

Ohmio Automotion has launched in New Zealand to begin production of self-driving vehicles in the country, using technology developed by Australian parent company HMI Technologies. The electric Ohmio Hop shuttles are self-driving, fully electric autonomous vehicles which Ohmio says can form a connected convoy, enabling them to be used as a scalable public transport solution. They have been designed to be a last mile solution, carrying people and their luggage short distances, providing the last mile conn
September 12, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Ohmio Automotion has launched in New Zealand to begin production of self-driving vehicles in the country, using technology developed by Australian parent company 8502 HMI Technologies.


The electric Ohmio Hop shuttles are self-driving, fully electric autonomous vehicles which Ohmio says can form a connected convoy, enabling them to be used as a scalable public transport solution. They have been designed to be a last mile solution, carrying people and their luggage short distances, providing the last mile connection to or from transport hubs or mass transit options

The Ohmio vehicles use self-mapping artificial intelligence, enabling them to self-drive a route without external input once they have completed it under supervision.

A range of four Ohmio models is planned for production in the next 12 months, ranging in size from small to large shuttles and freight pods, which can be customised to customer requirements.

Technology company HMI has three autonomous vehicle trials already under way in New Zealand at Christchurch International Airport and in Australia at Sydney Olympic Park and Melbourne’s La Trobe University, which the company says have generated public interest in the new technology.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Volvo and KPMG find buses are key to urban air quality
    September 13, 2016
    Buses can play a key role in the battle to improve air quality in towns and cities as David Crawford discovers. A city with a population of half a million would gain about US$12.3 million in annualised societal savings if all its buses ran on electricity instead of diesel. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging analysis carried out by Swedish bus manufacturer Volvo Group and global business consultants KPMG.
  • Gridserve unveils 'mass charging' EV forecourt
    December 11, 2020
    Company says it can charge 36 EVs at once, adding 200 miles of range in 20 minutes
  • Australians ‘open to a fairer, more sustainable road funding system’
    September 12, 2016
    Australia’s first real-world trial of road charging options has found that motorists are open to a different way of paying for the nation’s roads. Transurban chief executive officer Scott Charlton said the first stage of the Melbourne Road Usage Study suggested a user-pays system could work in Australia, providing fair, sustainable and flexible funding for the infrastructure. The 18-month study, led by Transurban and supported by independent research and technology specialists, looked at how people used
  • Oregon tests new mileage-base charging scheme
    August 5, 2013
    Jack Opiola from D’Artagnan Consulting LLP explains Oregon’s latest moves which mandated a trial of mileage-based road use charging. In 1919, Oregon made the 20th century’s most significant contribution to transportation funding policy, becoming the first state in America to implement a gas tax to pay for roads. This summer Oregon’s Legislature passed, and Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law, Senate Bill 810 which requires a distance-based road usage charge for 5,000 volunteer vehicles by 1 July 2015. T