Automotive News Canada - September 2017 - 14

14

* SEPTEMBER 2017

WINTER SURVIVAL

If autonomous electric shuttles can make it in Quebec, they can make it anywhere
By PERRY LEFKO

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

A COMPANY BASED IN
France that builds self-driving
electric shuttle buses plans to
launch a pilot program this fall
in a Montreal suburb, in part
to learn more about how the
vehicle can handle a Canadian
winter.
A Navya company executive says the project will
show off a technology that can
help ease traffic congestion in
urban areas. Navya is operating more than 35 of its 15-pas-

senger Arma buses in several
countries and has transported
more than 130,000 passengers
worldwide.
Canada is considered
an important step ahead in
the company's international development. The program, which will be launched
in Terrebonne, is currently
awaiting approval from the
Quebec Ministry of Transport
and the Automobile Insurance
Association of Quebec.
Terrebonne Mayor Stephane
Berthe told Automotive News
Canada he is hoping the project begins in November.

Navya, based in Lyon,
France, and Keolis Canada
presented the electric shuttle-bus project in May at the
Union Internationale des
Transports Publics Global
Public Transit Summit in
Montreal. Keolis, which is
based in Paris and specializes in passenger transportation, has its Canadian base in
Montreal.
"It's not only good for
Terrebonne, it's good for anywhere in the world," Berthe
said. "It's good for Navya, too,
because if the shuttles work
in winter, they can export it to
anywhere in the world."

EASING CONGESTION

French bus maker Navya's 15-passenger Arma currently runs
on a shuttle route at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,
Mich. ( P H O T O : N AV YA )

Navya Vice-President Sales
Henri Coron said that Navya
can help solve automobile traffic flow saturation and offers
a 100 per cent autonomous
vehicle that combines digital,
robotic and motor-driven technologies.
"Our autonomous mobility
solution is completely different from consumer solutions
such as the Google car," Coron
said. "The public transport
networks of the future must
ease the problems of congestion currently experienced in
towns and cities.

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Navya chose Terrebonne because the company had a
relationship with the Quebec town and it was "open to
work with us on that trial [program]." ( P H O T O : N AV YA )

"Our only option is to great- projects, it's never easy to go
through all of those steps. We
ly change the current mobilistarted this
ty model on a
program in
global scale,
January."
providing a
Coron
smart mobilindicated the
ity solution
Terrebonne
that up until
pilot project
now did not
resembles othexist. The
ers Navya has
Navya Arma
undertaken
autonomous
HENRI CORON
elsewhere, but
shuttle is
Navya vice-president of sales
said that the
intended to
Canadian winsupplement
ter is an "important factor" in
existing transport networks,
this particular trial.
not replace them."
NAVYA did some road test'IT TAKES TIME'
ing in the winter in Michigan.
"But the winter [there]
Marie Helene Cloutier,
is not like the one here in
vice-president, passenger
Quebec," Cloutier said. "This
experience, marketing and
is part of the vision of the projsales of Keolis Canada, said
ect.
Terrebonne was selected for
"We are hoping to work
the shuttle program because of
its innovation, in particular its out an improvement of the
parking and the mobility in
green initiatives.
Terrebonne, but also to do
"We already had a relationsome research on the winter
ship with Terrebonne, and
perspective. So part of the projthey were open to work with
ect is to test and drive in the
us on that trial [program],"
winter." - ANC
Cloutier said.
"It takes a lot of time to
work on those projects. We
needed a partner that was willing to invest time and to invest
money.
"When you talk about innovation with these types of

Our only option is to greatly
change the current mobility
model on a global scale.

Navya Vice-President Sales
Henri Coron says the Arma
bus is "completely different" from the Google car.
( P H O T O : N AV YA )

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