WeRide, a global leader in autonomous driving technology, today announced the first European fully driverless commercial deployment of its Robobus as part of a shuttle service partnership with beti, Renault Group, and Macif that will feature an L4 -level automated mobility service in France’s Drôme region.
At the inauguration ceremony, key representatives from the government and corporations participated in the ribbon-cutting, highlighting the strong commitment of various stakeholders in France to the project and their deep collaboration on green and low-carbon autonomous mobility solutions. Attendees included Thierry Devimeux, Prefect of Drôme; Laurent Monnet, Vice-President for Economic Affairs of Valence Romans Agglomeration Community; Jean-Claude Duclaux, Mayor of Alixan; Florence Gallay, Project Manager for “Automated Transport” at the Directorate General for Infrastructure, Transport, and Mobility (DGITM); Jennifer Li, CFO and Head of International Business at WeRide; Benjamin Beaudet, CEO of beti; Fabien Bertolami, Managing Director of Bertolami; Christian Bertolami, former CEO of Bertolami; Patrick Vergelas, Head of Autonomous Mobility Projects at Renault Group; and Yann Arnaud, Director of Responses to Member Needs and Innovation at Macif.
WeRide will provide its L4-level autonomous technology for a passenger transport service on open roads in mixed traffic, with several six-meter-long robobuses, each able to carry eight passengers, operated by beti Automated Mobility. Beti Automated Mobility will begin operations on March 10, at the Rovaltain business park – Valence TGV station in Drôme.
The service marks an unprecedented collaboration between these four major players, sharing the same conviction: shared automated mobility serving all regions should open up rural and suburban areas, accelerate the ecological transition and facilitate people’s mobility for better access to employment, health, education, and leisure.
“Our collaboration with beti allows us to execute our inaugural commercial Robobus deployment in Europe, utilizing our proven track record in the Chinese, Singaporean, and Middle Eastern markets, and ultimately reinforcing our position as a global leader in L4 autonomous driving deployment and commercialization.” said Jennifer Li, CFO and Head of International Business at WeRide.
Benjamin Beaudet, CEO of beti, explained that “beti provides the ‘hypervision’ solution where behind their screens, the ‘hypervisors’ can’t drive the shuttle remotely, but they can react to alerts, stop the vehicle, monitor service, providing a second layer of safety for automated driving and ensuring continuous improvement of the system.”
“Following successful trials conducted over the past year by Renault Group and its partner WeRide, the beginnings of a passenger transport service using automated shuttles are now being set up in Valence (France). Renault Group continues to move forward in order to implement its strategy to propose, well before the end of this decade, a relevant, low-carbon, efficient offer of automated minibuses, to meet the growing needs of territories,” said Patrick Vergelas, Head of Autonomous Mobility Projects, Renault Group.
Yann Arnaud, Director of Responses to Member Needs and Innovation of Macif, explains that “Macif, as initiator and pilot of the Movin’On Community of Interest on Automated Vehicles (CIVA), is particularly interested in this deployment, whose observation will feed its work and underpin its support for the development of a collective format for automated mobility.”
The route covered by the automated shuttles is 3.3 km long, and serves the train station, the off-site long-term parking area, the business park’s catering hub and about 150 companies, employing nearly 3,000 people on the 162-hectare site. Its deployment has been guided by three use cases:
- Ensuring flexible internal mobility for people or goods between the TGV station and the TER station with companies, and also encouraging soft and/or alternative mobility by ensuring equally virtuous transport over the last few kilometers.
- Offering a low-carbon service between the long-term parking lot and the Valence TGV station, where there is currently no alternative to walking.
- Linking the park’s companies and other private sites to the site’s catering hub to facilitate the mobility of local employees and entrepreneurs.
The deployment of a High Service Level Automated Shuttle service at the Rovaltain site is a first in many respects:
- This is WeRide’s first fully driverless commercial European deployment of Robobus, showcasing its global expansion.
- The WeRide – beti – Renault Group alliance is offering the 1st high-level service automated mobility network to connect a railway station to the many players in the surrounding business park.
- The technological choice of WeRide’s level 4 automation enables speeds consistent with traffic regulations (up to 40km/h) and dynamic obstacle avoidance.
Open to the public, the initial learning phase will run from March 10 to April 19, operating Monday to Friday under real passenger transport conditions. It will demonstrate the relevance of the service, the safety of the technology and the efficiency of the operation to the European mobility sector. A second target operating phase starting in July will confirm the scale of the service.
SOURCE: WeRide
