Continental and EasyMile team up for autonomous driving R&D

Automotive giant Continental has signed a deal with autonomous driving specialist EasyMile to create a joint R&D facility in Singapore. The combined team will work on solutions for driverless mobility, focusing on perception and deep learning, to prepare autonomous vehicle (AV) technology for tests. The companies call their memorandum of understanding a “stepping stone in a structured approach to AV testing on public roads in Singapore”. The city-state of Singapore is looking to AVs to improve its trans
November 16, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Automotive giant 260 Continental has signed a deal with autonomous driving specialist 8246 EasyMile to create a
joint R&D facility in Singapore.

The combined team will work on solutions for driverless mobility, focusing on perception and deep learning,
to prepare autonomous vehicle (AV) technology for tests.

The companies call their memorandum of understanding a “stepping stone in a structured approach to AV
testing on public roads in Singapore”.

The city-state of Singapore is looking to AVs to improve its transport system, enhancing first- and last-
mile connectivity between peoples’ homes and nearby public transport nodes.

There is an existing AV test centre in Jurong Innovation District and several ongoing AV trials in the
metropolitan area.

In addition, ComfortDelGro is to test an EasyMile EZ10 autonomous shuttle at the National University of
Singapore’s Kent Ridge Campus, while 609 Volvo Buses has entered a two-year partnership with Nanyang
Technological University to test autonomous electric buses – both beginning early next year.

Singapore has also identified three towns for pilot deployment of AVs for public transport by the early
2020s.

Continental already has around 1,300 staff in Singapore.  “Our Singapore location is one of our largest R&D
locations in Asia already,” says Ralph Lauxmann, the group’s head of systems & technology. “With the joint
autonomous driving R&D team we have expanded the network.”

The companies say their results “can be used as a blueprint for the deployment of driverless systems in

other regions of the world”.

Gilbert Gagnaire, CEO of EasyMile, said the collaboration “is an important step to accelerate the
development of new technology for global markets as well as to benefit of the advance and dynamism of
Singapore’s autonomous driving ecosystem”.

Continental became a minority shareholder in the French company last year. EasyMile is involved in more
than 200 driverless projects in 24 countries. 

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UWA trials EasyMile's autonomous bus on campus
    August 14, 2018
    Visitors at the University of Western Australia (UWA) can now travel around the campus on an EasyMile autonomous bus. The partnership has launched a nine-day project to assess the possibility of using this type of technology as an on-site sustainable transport link. The bus will travel at 5Kmh with a trained observer onboard who will oversee the technology and answer questions. The vehicle can carry up to 14 passengers and uses telecommunication company Telstra's mobile network for navigation. Membe
    Read More
  • Autonomous vehicles, the pros and cons
    November 21, 2013
    Driver interface and human factors could provide the biggest obstacles to autonomous vehicles as Jon Masters discovers.
    Read More
  • Dundee trial offers insight into delivering MaaS in smaller urban and rural areas
    March 27, 2018
    A MaaS trial in Scotland will evaluate the attraction of such services for young people living in small cities and rural areas. Colin Sowman reports. It is often said that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is fine in big cities - but what about smaller towns and rural areas? Well, the city of Dundee in Scotland has only around 150,000 people but is set to provide some answers with its trial of NaviGoGo, a MaaS operation aimed at 16-25 year olds – be they students, working or unemployed. By population, Dundee
    Read More
  • HMI commence third driverless vehicle trial at La Trobe University, Melbourne
    November 15, 2017
    HMI Technologies (HMI) has launched its third self-driving vehicle trial with a consortium of partners at La Trobe University, in Melbourne, Australia. The trial intends to further help authorities and commercial businesses to research the benefits and limitations of the technology, and identify how it will become part of the public transport network of tomorrow. The La Trobe Autonobus (LTA) will soon connect students and staff at the University campus to other transport network nodes such as trams and bus
    Read More

Highlighted Content