Robot taxi from Trollhättan for Europe

2020 will be an exciting year for the Trollhättan location. Koenigsegg wants to produce a hybrid sports car in the factory, Sono Motors the Sion - and NEVS a robot taxi for Europe from the end of 2020. NEVS is about nothing less than the presentation of a new type of vehicle that should stand for the future of sustainable mobility in Europe.

NEVS InMotion Concept
NEVS InMotion Concept. Photo Credit: NEVS

The template for the new type delivers the 2017 featured at CES Asia InMotion Concept. The developers at Stallbacka use AutoX technology to implement it. Last Friday, the two companies announced the start of an exclusive strategic partnership for Europe.

AutoX wants to democratize autonomous driving

AutoX founder is Jianxiong Xiao, a former Princeton computer science professor. His concept of autonomous driving is surprisingly simple, and fundamentally different from his competitors. While these rely on a complex technology package, consisting of several Lidar radar sensors and differential GPS, AutoX is content only with standard webcams. 7 cameras per vehicle, they are to come from Logitech, and a self-developed software fully meet the founder to send a robot taxi on the road. Interesting, because AutoX is not alone. Even Elon Musk consistently dispenses with the need for elaborate technology and combines 8 cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors with only one forward-looking radar. From year's end, Tesla could for all vehicles Hardware update provide that enables fully autonomous driving.

The cost per car is given by AutoX at $ 500. A price far below what would be possible with Lidar technology. And the concept of AutoX already seems to prove itself in everyday life. In San Jose and Santa Clara you can request robotic taxis via smartphone app. They deliver food or meals from restaurants to any location, whether at home, in the office or in the parking lot.

NEVS will begin testing AutoX technology in the third quarter of 2019. The first robot taxis in Europe are to be piloted by the end of 2020. The basis for this is a new vehicle that is to be based on the well-known InMotion Concept. It is currently being developed for series production in Trollhättan.

The robot taxi is a revolution

The future, it could come again from the small town on Göta Älv. No surprise, because Trollhättan has already experienced many breaks and new beginnings. This upheaval is certainly different from what many readers dream of. More technical, colder. But the temptations of the concept of the future are obvious, and they are revolutionary. Robot taxis have no breaks, no standstill. They can be used around the clock and in the medium term will lead to fewer vehicles that are used for our mobility. The robot taxi opens up completely new opportunities and business areas.

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Heijo Red
4 years earlier

Great project ... I don't understand why there are seats ´ but then only goods and the like should actually be transported ?? I'm curious what will come across in reality!

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
4 years earlier
Reply to  Heijo Red

Quite simply: the photo with the seats is from NEVS.
The statement about goods transport in the article, however, refers to AutoX ...

It is also obvious to introduce and test this type of vehicle in this way. A pizza knows no reservations and neither does the management of Amazon. This saves the driver and missing occupants cannot suffer any damage during the test. If the concept has proven itself in delivery traffic, has hardly produced any negative headlines and meets with acceptance, then the red carpet is rolled out for passenger traffic ...

Terry Hawkins
Terry Hawkins
4 years earlier

Trollhättan, and Saab, paid a heavy price for GM's incompetence, failures and stupidity of 2008, and the 1st decade of this century.
Today, Trollhättan maybe gets that new start, that's very good, but there is Capacity cheaply in Holland too….

Nev's, is and has always been a stripper of assets (Technology), nothing more, why else would you transport the Saab production line to China, but to be copied ..

All the promises of a new Saab means nothing, sadly.

Ken-Daniel S.
Ken-Daniel S.
4 years earlier

If this is built in Trollhättan and creates jobs, that's a pleasant thing

mountain goat
mountain goat
4 years earlier

Everything that creates work in Trollhättan is welcome from my point of view!
Nothing is worse than when a city / region is in economic. Imbalance and then departure, aging, vacancy from the property is the result.
So: Thumbs up for this project!
Although I don't really know whether there will be fewer vehicles on the roads in 2020 ...

Great Otto
Great Otto
4 years earlier

The revolutionary thing about robot taxis, however, is that they can easily cope with standstills and breaks, especially in the form of waiting times - without incurring personnel costs. The world will certainly be a little bit “colder” - even if I don't really miss the very old days with smoky taxis ...

kochje
4 years earlier

I hope that these activities can help Trollhattan again to get this beautiful city and its inhabitants a really good future.
This city has suffered enough from what has happened in 2011 since the end of Saab. Every positive development is welcome

Terry Hawkins
Terry Hawkins
4 years earlier
Reply to  kochje

Totally agree, but this is now about a production factory, and no longer about Saab ...... ..

Franc troll
Franc troll
4 years earlier

It would be a miracle if there were cars “Made by Trolls” again in 2020. Personally, I'm still interested in more information about the SION. Tom, didn't you want to write something else?

Mr. Nordmann
Mr. Nordmann
4 years earlier

Again an announcement from NEVS ...

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
4 years earlier
Reply to  Tom

On the other hand, the announcement is all the more full-bodied.

Without the ambitious main shareholder, they were content with relatively profane announcements. Now, one announces nothing less than an all-encompassing mobility revolution that requires a new infrastructure and new behaviors. It is a product for a hitherto non-existent future market, is a bet and speculation.

The chances are not that bad that the discrepancy between announcements and NEVS implementations will remain the same ...

In short: I understand and share the skepticism of Mr. Nordmann and would like to see first a Sion and a Koenigsegg from THN, before I make even a single thought about a robot taxi.

Especially since Sion & Koenigseggs already has an infrastructure, a market and a demand. You could also call it a time slot. The clock is already ticking and for a 9-3 EV it is slowly but surely running down again without a single delivery and approval in the given time window ...