Delphi, Transdev to develop driverless transport systems globally

Automotive technology company, Delphi, has commercially partnered with French public transport service company, Transdev, to develop automated on-demand shuttle services in Europe. The on-demand mobility transport systems (AMoD – autonomous mobility on-demand) will undergo pilot testing in France and expand globally. The partnership is aiming at putting self-driving vehicles on the road in the next four years. The automated driving platform that Delphi is creating with Mobileye (Centralized Sensing, Planning and Localization platform) will be integrated with Transdev’s Universal Routing Engine (URE) mobility network operations and vehicles. According to media reports, this partnership is the most ambitious of the currently announced autonomous mobility projects, since eventually both companies aim to go global with their network and partnership offering. “With Delphi’s expertise in driverless technology, we will accelerate our capabilities to develop a global autonomous transportation system, from client interface to vehicle intelligence. Our ambition is to offer the best’PACE’ mobility solutions to our clients: Personalized, Autonomous, Connected and Electric,” said Yann Leriche, Chief Performance Officer and Lead, B2C Business Line, Transdev group.

“Combining the strengths of our two companies, leaders in their field, will enable us to introduce innovative driverless services in our current and future operations, confirming the position of Transdev as a pioneer in integrating autonomous transport systems into global mobility networks.”

Tech integrations

Being called the first open road, driverless on-demand mobility service in EU the pilot will tested in Paris-Saclay and in Rouen (Normandy). Delphi and Transdev will share knowledge of AMoD systems to develop fully autonomous vehicles, a driverless vehicle infrastructure solution (DVIS) and cloud infrastructure to support a commercial AMoD system that can operate globally. Delphi on the other hand will integrate its turnkey CSLP platform into Transdev’s mobility service vehicles, including a centralized computer running Delphi’s Ottomatika vehicle control software, a comprehensive sensor suite, and all the required connectivity and data devices based on Control-Tec real-time analytics, Movimento’s secure, over-the-air (OTA) technologies and Mobileye’s REM technology.

How will it help?

By integrating Transdev’s URE and remote control-command software, including intelligent infrastructure and additional software modules dedicated to public transportation, it will be able to leverage its deep knowledge in client use-cases, safety and quality of service specifications for shared mobility services. “This latest announcement will help accelerate the development of commercially viable automated vehicle solutions. With Transdev’s deep understanding of mobility operations, this collaboration will further strengthen our AMoD and data management capabilities, while expanding our automated driving platform to include a variety of different vehicle types,” said Glen De Vos, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Delphi.

“As a result, we’re confident this collaboration brings us closer to providing all of our customers and partners with an affordable, reliable and scalable automated driving and mobility-on-demand platform.”

Interestingly, Transdev had already initiated an Autonomous on-demand Mobility service program in Normandy this year. According to the company, the collaboration will allow the two groups to jointly test the entire system: dispatch, remote control-command and vehicles, and test the sensor architecture and intelligence for driverless last-mile and door-to-door transportation service with the next phase including a commercial service. According to the partnership, in Paris-Saclay, Transdev and Delphi and will collaborate on the development of a first mile, last-mile on-demand solution between a conventional railway station and the Paris-Saclay plateau and campus.