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The EZ10 electric driverless shuttle, developed by EasyMile, will become the first of its kind to operate under real conditions without an on-board attendant, having the potential to become an essential fixture of smart cities around the world.
The shuttle can complement existing transport services to provide a critical solution to the perennial urban transportation problem of first-mile and last-mile mobility. It is ideal for low-density urban areas or large private sites such as factories or airports. It offers operational flexibility to operators, including -crucially- the ability to adapt service frequency to meet demand.
EZ10 was first launched in April 2015 and, since then, it has been deployed around the world with over 230 sites across 26 countries with 600,000 km now on the counter. Among other places, it has been deployed in the Netherlands, California, the Netherlands and Estonia. In fact the line in Tallinn, Estonia, was the first where EZ10 shuttled connected and interacted with live traffic, in 2017.
Up until now, the shuttles were being used mostly within controlled environments and always with an attendant on board. However, according to the company, EasyMile’ s technology has now reached a level of maturity and reliability which will allow it to operate without an on-board attendant and in increasingly mixed traffic environments. This is expected to take place in 2019 and 2020. This will make the EZ10 the first truly driverless shuttle, and it will be an important milestone for mobility in general.
The original post can be found on Intelligent Transport.