HMI Technologies announces first autonomous bus to operate in NZ

In breaking news from the ITS World Congress, HMI Technologies announced that New Zealand's first autonomous bus will soon be operating at Christchurch airport. Following meetings at Intertraffic in Amsterdam and consequent conversations with engineers, HMI decided to purchase the vehicle from French manufacturer NAVYA. According to HMI’s Dean Zabrieszach, the announcement has already generated plenty of interest.
October 11, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
From left to right: Henri Coron of Navya, Ahmed Hikmet and Dean Zabrieszach

In breaking news from the ITS World Congress, 8502 HMI Technologies announced that New Zealand's first autonomous bus will soon be operating at Christchurch airport.

Following meetings at Intertraffic in Amsterdam and consequent conversations with engineers, HMI decided to purchase the vehicle from French manufacturer 8379 NAVYA. According to HMI’s Dean Zabrieszach, the announcement has already generated plenty of interest.

“Obviously, we’ve worked closely with Christchurch airport on this project but we’ve already received enquiries from other airports, government bodies and universities, all of which are keen to examine the potential for this technology,” said Zabrieszach.

“We’ve been watching the implementation of autonomous vehicles around the globe and we felt the best way for people to understand this technology, was to bring a unit to NZ.”

The NAVYA ARMA is electric and autonomous, it carries 12 passengers at a time and features multi-sensor technologies for accident prevention.

“The local regulations make it easier to test the NAVYA and we’ll let customers conclude just how much potential this technology has.

"Having the unit in NZ will also enable us to really understand the potential autonomous vehicles will have for our business,” he said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Pivot Power: 'We need to rethink the EV customer experience'
    October 10, 2018
    Electric vehicles will increasingly become a key part of the mobility mix but charging infrastructure is currently patchy. Adam Hill talks to Matt Allen of Pivot Power about disruption, horses, slot machines – and the importance of customer experience. Electric vehicles (EVs) – including buses, taxis and cars for individual and shared use – are already a common sight on our roads. They are not yet ubiquitous. But that will come. There will be around 30 million electric cars in the world by 2030 (as they
    Read More
  • Platooning with Ease on the I-70
    July 15, 2025
    What would happen to truck platooning - a nascent technology - if the weather turns nasty? The I-70 Truck Automation Corridor Project in the northern US should provide some answers, reports David Arminas…
    Read More
  • US infrastructure: once in a lifetime
    April 23, 2021
    Expectations are sky-high for Amtrak Joe and Mayor Pete as they use infrastructure spending to rebuild the US economy post-Covid – and ITS firms should be able to get a share...
    Read More
  • Monitoring and transparency preserve enforcement's reputation
    July 30, 2012
    What can be done to preserve automated enforcement's reputation in the face of media and public criticism? Here, system manufacturers and suppliers talk about what they think are the most appropriate business models. Recent events in Italy only served to once again to push automated enforcement into the media spotlight. At the heart of the matter were the numerous alleged instances of local authorities and their contract suppliers of enforcement services colluding to illegally shorten amber signal phase tim
    Read More

Highlighted Content