Motion Digest Network: Leading Urban Transformation

The first electric self-driving shuttle project represents the future urban mobility of public transport in Canada – scheduled to arrive in May.

Keolis Canada, a Franco-Quebec company, specializes in passenger transportation in Canada and NAVYA, a leader specializing in the development of innovative, smart and sustainable mobility solutions; announce that they will officially present their autonomous electric shuttle project at the UITP Global Public Transit Summit, one of the largest public transport and urban mobility events in the world, being held in Montreal May 15 to 17.

“This is a great progress for us, as we have been evaluating the Quebec market for some time. The UITP Summit is the perfect venue at which to present the product, which offers a solution for the initial and final stages of a trip. Keolis will also play a visible role at the Summit. We believe that electric vehicles represent the future of public transit, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to test this new autonomous vehicle here as a Canadian first. The enthusiasm for the project is already contagious,” said Patrick Gilloux, President and Chief Operating Officer of Keolis Canada.

“We know there is keen interest in Quebec for innovative mobility solutions such as autonomous electric shuttles,” stated Christophe Sapet, CEO of NAVYA. “We are pleased to have deployed more than 35 vehicles to date and transported more than 130,000 passengers world-wide, and Canada is an important step ahead in our international development. We look forward to the Montreal demonstration of this product, which is a viable response to the problems faced by cities today: congestion, pollution and parking.”

“Montreal is actively preparing for the emergence of autonomous and electric vehicles. The new institute to study and promote electrification and intelligent transportation will draw on Montreal’s many assets as a city of innovation. We have what it takes to become a global leader in the mobility of tomorrow, and I applaud the contribution of Keolis Canada and NAVYA in this field,” stated Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montreal.

The Future of Public Transport

In September 2016, Keolis launched experimental testing of NAVLY, the world’s first public transport service using autonomous electric shuttles in a fixed-point/fixed-route environment. Since then, it has tested a number of other autonomous shuttle projects in major cities, including Las Vegas in January. These fixed-route autonomous shuttles are ideal for moving people on private sites such as urban areas, airports, industrial sites, amusement parks, hotel complexes and hospitals.

Keolis and Navya’s autonomous electric shuttles will accelerate the adoption of autonomous technology in public transportation by extending the reach of first mile last mile connectivity in cities existing transportation network.

The benefits of autonomous public transport for mobility stakeholders: improving efficiency in public transport and connectivity, controlling the impact on existing infrastructure, reducing traffic and pollution.

Read Singapore’s Autonomous Vehicle Initiative