AVs for seniors from Via in New South Wales

Autonomous vehicle (AV) developers seem to targeting ‘closed’ communities such as retirement complexes or universities and Via is also joining this trend. The company has launched a free AV service called BusBot for a retirement community in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. In partnership with local bus operator Busways, Transport for NSW and EasyMile, BusBot is operating in the Marian Grove Retirement Village in Toormina, a suburb of Coffs Harbour. Via says its technology allows the vehicle
July 18, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Autonomous vehicle (AV) developers seem to targeting ‘closed’ communities such as retirement complexes or universities and Via is also joining this trend.

The company has launched a free AV service called BusBot for a retirement community in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

In partnership with local bus operator Busways, Transport for NSW and 8246 EasyMile, BusBot is operating in the Marian Grove Retirement Village in Toormina, a suburb of Coffs Harbour.

Via says its technology allows the vehicle to navigate to virtual bus stops, allowing passengers to share trips without lengthy detours.

Daniel Ramot, co-founder of Via, says AVs need to be shared by multiple people to reach their full potential.

“Via’s sophisticated systems are able to power, in real time, the movement of millions of connected autonomous shuttles and their passengers,” Ramot adds.

Each vehicle can carry up to 15 people and travel at around 10km/h. Users can access the service from the BusBot app.

Last month, Via launched an on-demand %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external shared transit system false https://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/via-offers-on-demand-shared-transit-for-massachusetts-seniors/ false false%> for people over the age of 60 in the City of Newton, Massachusetts.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Boeing and Kitty Hawk partner on air urban mobility
    July 10, 2019
    Boeing has joined forces with California-based Kitty Hawk with the aim of advancing air urban mobility. Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager of Boeing Next, a subsidiary focusing on exploring urban air mobility, says the partners will focus on "safely advancing the future of mobility". Kitty Hawk's range of electric transportation solutions includes Cora, a two-seated air taxi, and Flyer, a vehicle for personalised flight. In January, Boeing completed a test flight of its autonomous
    Read More
  • ITS Asia Pacific Forum 2020: early bird registrations
    October 3, 2019
    Early bird registrations are open for the 17th ITS Asia Pacific Forum 2020 with the opportunity of saving up to $AUS200 (£109). ITS Australia says the forum, whose theme is ‘ITS Innovation Creating Liveable Communities’, “will demonstrate Australia’s new initiatives and adapted learnings from the advances of our neighbouring megacities”. Key topics will include Mobility as a Service, autonomous vehicles, data analytics and network development. The event will take place at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibit
    Read More
  • How C/AVs could serve rural communities
    July 23, 2019
    In Ireland, there is low population density and a lot of rain – which can make last-mile journeys a trial. Orla O’Halloran at Arup has some thoughts on how C/AVs could serve rural communities Connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) have the potential to be a vital link for people in rural communities, as part of a wider Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solution. That is the view of Orla O’Halloran, intelligent mobility consultant at Arup. She believes that MaaS needs to be considered in conjunction with ot
    Read More
  • Grab launches e-scooter service in Indonesia
    May 28, 2019
    Grab has joined forces with Sinar Mas Land to launch 50 electric scooters aimed at people travelling short distances in BSD (Bumi Serpong Damai) City in Indonesia. Sinar, a property developer, says the GrabWheels service is expected to be of interest to students and office workers travelling distances of 3-5km. Ongki Kurniawan, Grab Indonesia executive director, says the e-scooters can travel up to 15km per hour and can travel up to 40km when the battery is fully charged. Users can access the service
    Read More

Highlighted Content