PARIS, FRANCE: NAVYA, a leading company in autonomous driving system, announced its first autonomous shuttle service deployment on public roads in the UK at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, a leading innovation center.
NAVYA’s shuttle will transport employees and visitors 24/7 around this UK science and technology hub. Located in Oxfordshire, England, the 700-acre Harwell Science and Innovation Campus hosts more than 6,000 people and 240 public and private organizations in three areas of expertise: space, renewable energy and health.
The shuttle will be operated by DARWIN, a British company specializing in the application of cutting-edge technological research in the field of terrestrial and satellite communications. DARWIN’s focus is to enable reliable connectivity on the move by combining terrestrial and satellite communications, with the aid of the European Space Agency, mobile provider O2 and satellite operator HISPASAT.
UK insurer AVIVA is also a partner and is presenting the autonomous shuttle service today at its headquarters in the City of London. AVIVA will use the results of DARWIN’s trial to evolve its insurance products to provide comprehensive coverage for autonomous vehicles and associated technologies.
Sophia Ward, Operations Manager at DARWIN, comments: “We are delighted to have registered NAVYA’s purpose-built connected autonomous shuttle for use on publicly accessible roads at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. This is a significant regulatory milestone on the road to making CAV mobility a reality, and an exciting step on our innovative journey to realising the potential of ubiquitous communications. We now look forward to announcing future trials involving this exciting new technology soon”.
Pierre Lahutte, CEO of NAVYA, comments: “We are very pleased to be part of this trial at the renowned Harwell Science and Innovation Campus. This new deployment allows NAVYA to strengthen its technology with an additional use case in a complex environment and to contribute to the development of insurance practices for autonomous vehicles”.