A $290,000 Robot-Car Is Navya’s Answer to GM and Waymo

Navya announced a plan to roll its robot-driven automobiles in the next few weeks to try to compete with General Motors Co and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo. NAVYA is a Lyon and Paris-based company that develops driverless vehicles for the specific site transportation of goods and people.

Navya develops driverless electric and robotic vehicles in France. It offers transportation solutions to optimize travel for staff, visitors, and contractors on private sites, such as urban areas, industrial sites, airports, amusement parks, hospitals, and hotels. Navya SAS was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Villeurbanne, France.

Navya launched the first phase of the trial run on 23 June 2016 with PostBus (CarPostal), a Swiss specialist in urban and suburban transport, . The first phase of the test was supposed to end on 31th October 2017. However, with the success of the shuttles which already transported 60 000 people, the City of Sion and PostBus decided to prolong the AUTONOM SHUTTLE trial and to double the route. The extended operation of the shuttles will go at least until the end of 2018.