Optimus Ride, an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) spin-off developing self-driving vehicle technology, has announced plans to deploy its autonomous vehicles at three sites in New York, Virginia and California.
Optimus Ride will be deploying its self-driving systems at: the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City, a 300-acre modern industrial park with over 400 manufacturing businesses and 9,000 people working on site; a new US$1.4bn mixed-use development in Reston, Virginia, operated by Brookfield Properties; and Paradise Valley Estates, a private 80-acre, non-profit Life Plan Community located in Fairfield, California.
Optimus Ride will provide residents and workers at all three sites with access to efficient and convenient self-driving mobility within defined, geofenced areas. With these new programs, Optimus Ride will be operating automated deployments in four US states.
Due to launch in the second quarter of 2019, the company’s deployment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will be the first commercial self-driving vehicle program in the state of New York. Optimus Ride will operate self-driving vehicles on the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s private roads, providing a loop shuttle service to connect NYC Ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue outside the Yard’s perimeter.
Paradise Valley Estates will welcome the Optimus Ride vehicle system onto its private, gated community this summer. During the initial phase of the program, the primary service will be to provide prospective residents with self-driving tours of the community. Additionally, residents will be able to access the vehicle through its reservation and on-demand ride services to travel to-and-from their friends’ homes, as well as travel to the community/health center, and access outdoor activities within the property.
Beginning in June, Optimus Ride will provide tenants at buildings currently on the Halley Rise site with access to efficient self-driving mobility completely contained within the development site of new housing, local retail, modern offices, public green spaces, and year-round cultural activities. Residents will be able to use Optimus Ride’s reservation system and on-demand ride services.
During the initial phase, a total of three self-driving vehicles will remain completely within the development site and transport tenants from their office buildings to parking lots at the site. An operations team on site will actively monitor the fleet service, as well as provide maintenance, cleaning, charging and updating of the vehicles.
“Working with leading developments and communities like Halley Rise, Paradise Valley Estates and the Brooklyn Navy Yard enables us to further our mission to transform mobility,” said Dr Ryan Chin, CEO and co-founder of Optimus Ride.
“We’re pleased to be the first company to launch a self-driving vehicle program in the state of New York and, having now announced three deployments in the first quarter of 2019, are well positioned as the leader in self-driving systems for geofenced areas.
“We are committed to the goals of Vision Zero, a multinational road traffic safety initiative that aims to achieve a road network with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic, and all our vehicles are programmed to adhere to Vision Zero speeds.”
