Benteler EV Systems, Beep and Mobileye, an Intel Company, have formed a strategic collaboration to develop and deploy automotive-grade, fully electric, autonomous vehicles in public and private communities across North America.
Aimed at first- and last-mile use cases in urban areas, the shuttles are due to begin production deployments in the US in 2024. The project aims to help address “micro-transit” inequities in transportation networks – including road congestion, road safety and mobility access.
Benteler EV will provide the purpose-built autonomous mover, with Mobileye supplying its self-driving system and it will be supported by Beep’s deployment and operations systems, technology and services.
“Multipassenger micro-transit needs are ever-increasing in our cities and towns globally and must be addressed in order to reduce road congestion, protect the environment and provide safe, reliable mobility for all to access,” said Hinrich Woebcken, advisory board member for Beep and former CEO of Volkswagen North America.
“Bringing to market an affordable, automotive-grade, electric, autonomous mover is a solution that will transform mobility as we know it today.”
Production will take place in the US, with the ambition to roll out the mover to other countries helping deliver the mobility of the future.
Joe Moye, CEO of Beep, added: “Beep’s well-established U.S. footprint for our autonomous mobility operations model, which incorporates machine learning, contextual route intelligence and Beep’s existing centralised command centre platform, combine with Benteler’s and Mobileye’s manufacturing expertise to make this the first alignment of all capabilities needed to successfully scale the deployment of this important transformation in passenger mobility.”
