Driverless-car technology startup NuTonomy, is teaming up with French car manufacturer Groupe PSAto integrate its autonomous driving software into the new Peugeot 3008 SUV for testing on open roads this year. Both companies have revealed plans to begin testing of the driverless cars by this September in Singapore.
NuTonomy, that competes with Uber’s robot-taxi, is already conducting public trials of its self-driving car service in partnership with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA). Through this collaboration, the company will first install its software, along with sensors and computing platforms, into Peugeot 3008 vehicles that have been customized by PSA’s innovation teams.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, NuTonomy, whose goal is to put a fleet of robot-taxis on the road in 2018, first started testing Renault and Mitsubishi vehicles in Singapore in August, a few days before Uber began its road tests in Pittsburgh. In addition to Singapore, nuTonomy is operating self-driving cars in Michigan and the United Kingdom, where it is testing software in partnership with major automotive manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover.
With this agreement, PSA makes its first move into the autonomous car segment to develop technologies likely to challenge the habits of consumers in terms of automobiles. The French automaker returned to the American car market in April after decades of absence, with a car-sharing service in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
According to a report in Wall Street Journal, other tech companies including Chinese internet giant Baidu have been testing self-driving cars on the roads for years, but it’s only now that vehicles have been open to public trials. Delphi also joined forces with Mobileye to build a driving platform, which they’re calling a, SAE (initially established as the Society of Automotive Engineers) Level 4 or 5 automated driving solution. The companies have announced the partnership to join automotive companies like Ford, BMW and Tesla in driving towards a driverless car experience.