CA: Keolis & Navya launch first autonomous shuttles
The town of Candiac in Québec will see the first real-road trial of autonomous electric shuttles in Canada. Setup by Keolis using EVs from Navya, the trial will run over 12 months. The shuttles will serve on public roads on a 2-km stretch.
The trial is handled by Keolis, through its subsidiary Keolis Canada, and its partner NAVYA. It is supported by the Quebec Government, the Technopôle IVEO, the Cluster for Electric and Smart Transport, Propulsion Québec.
The town of Candiac is located on the south shore of the island of Montreal. The population of 21,000 people will be able to use the autonomous shuttles. There are multiple stops along the 2 kilometre route that connects inhabitants to the central bus terminal. The shuttles will run empty in winter however, in order to test an potentially improve the electric vehicles capabilities in the harsh weather conditions of Québec.
Keolis and Navya have been running successful trials of their service in France and around the world. One of the more prominent ones is the service at Paris’ Charles-de-Gaulle airport, another the one in Lyon. The latter was the first autonomous shuttle transport service in the world, Keolis claims. You can see the autonomous minibuses also scouting up and down public roads in Las Vegas reportedly.
In July 2018, the Keolis Group recorded 40,000km travelled and 110,000 passengers transported by autonomous shuttles, both in France and abroad.
Navya introduced their electric self driving minibus Arma for the first time in 2015 and has since started projects and trials across Europe and abroad. The French company is working to setup production facilities in both the United States and Australia.
Navya’s autonomous electric shuttle Arma can carry up to 11 seated and four standing passengers and has a maximum speed of 25 kph.
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