Skip to main content

Navya to launch self-driving electric shuttle service in Abu Dhabi project

Navya’s self-driving electric shuttle will operate as a daily mobility service for a planned city project in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The Autonom shuttle will link parking areas in Masdar City with its main podium. Navya and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Transport have customised the shuttle to mitigate the effects of extreme heat and humidity on battery performance. They also carried out health and safety tests to ensure the safety of passengers and pedestrians. Autonom can c
October 26, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
8379 Navya’s self-driving electric shuttle will operate as a daily mobility service for a planned city project in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The Autonom shuttle will link parking areas in Masdar City with its main podium.


Navya and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Transport have customised the shuttle to mitigate the effects of extreme heat and humidity on battery performance. They also carried out health and safety tests to ensure the safety of passengers and pedestrians.

Autonom can carry up to 12 passengers and has a full operational speed of 25 kilometres per hour.

The vehicle uses on-board cameras and Lidar sensors to create 3D and 2D ‘perception maps’ to detect nearby obstacles. Autonom defines its location via GPS and uses vehicle-to-everything technology to communicate with traffic lights.

Navya says it will deploy seven more shuttles for the project next year. The vehicle’s route map will be expanded to connect the Etihad Eco Residence complex above the city’s north car park with the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency and the My City Centre Masdar shopping centre.  

In %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 36368 0 link-external August false /sections/general/news/navya-electric-autonomous-shuttle-to-operate-on-open-roads-in-canada/ false false%>, Autonom was began operating on public roads with mixed traffic in Québec as part of an agreement with Keolis Canada and the City of Candiac.

The shuttle is running along a 2km route between Exo park-and-ride lot and the bus terminal and the intersection of Marie Victorin and Montcalm North Boulevards. Riders can use the shuttle to reach their workplaces from the bus terminal.

Related Content

  • July 27, 2018
    Uber’s self-driving cars resume trials in Pittsburgh in manual mode
    Uber’s self-driving cars are being manually driven on public roads in Pittsburgh after a fatal crash which prompted the company to pull out of its testing programme in North America. The company is trialling new safeguards which it says will improve vehicle fleet safety and performance. According to a report by Medium, Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced Technologies, says: “While we are eager to resume testing of our self-driving system, we see manual driving as an important first step in piloting thes
  • March 19, 2018
    RobotTuner explores autonomous accreditation at Intertraffic
    A newcomer at this year’s Intertraffic is RobotTuner which is displaying software for monitoring and remote control of autonomous vehicles and its simulation software for assessing object detection and classification safety systems. At Intertraffic it will highlight the ‘Digital driving license’ project it is undertaking with the Netherlands Vehicle Authority and the Netherlands Driver Exam Authority. The project aims to establish new methodology for the certification and type approval of autonomous
  • October 30, 2018
    SP Group to implement 1,000 EV chargers in Singapore by 2020
    Electricity and gas company SP Group says it will build a network of 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers in Singapore by 2020 to meet public demand. Wong Kim Yin, SP group chief executive officer, says the initiative will enable greater adoption of EVs, help its customers go green and save energy and cost. The deployment will include 250 high-powered direct current (DC) chargers which are expected to offer power ratings up to 350kW to support EV models with bigger battery capacities and longer driv
  • January 21, 2019
    Transdev enters partnership to develop shared mobility solution
    Transdev is to launch an electric and automated shuttle service by 2020 in France and Germany. The company is to integrate its autonomous shuttle transport and supervision system with a shuttle provided by the e.Go Moove joint venture – a partnership comprising e.Go, a manufacturer of electric vehicles, and chassis technology firm ZF. ZF will provide the shuttle’s electric drive systems, steering systems and brakes as well as its ProAI central computer – a system which acts as a central control unit with