Self-Driving Vehicles to Deploy in New York and California
Self-driving vehicle technology company Optimus Ride plans to deploy its self-driving systems during the coming months in New York City and in California. The company will provide self-driving car rides at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a 300-acre modern industrial park with over 400 manufacturing businesses and 9,000 people working on site, and at Paradise Valley Estates, a private 80-acre, nonprofit Life Plan Community located in Fairfield, California.
Optimus Ride will provide residents and workers at both sites with access to efficient and convenient self-driving mobility within defined, geofenced areas, according to the company. This news comes just weeks after Optimus Ride announced a partnership with Brookfield Properties to deploy self-driving vehicles at Brookfield’s Halley Rise development, located just outside of Washington, D.C. With these new programs, Optimus Ride will be operating deployments in four U.S. states.
Slated to launch in the second quarter of 2019, Optimus Ride’s deployment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will be the first commercial self-driving vehicle program in the state of New York, according to the company. Optimus Ride will deploy self-driving vehicles on the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s private roads, providing a loop shuttle service to connect NYC Ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue outside the Yard’s perimeter.
“The Brooklyn Navy Yard has long been a center of innovation and we are very pleased to announce our plans to deploy Optimus Ride’s self-driving system this summer. Optimus Ride’s self-driving system will provide efficient transportation for the thousands of commuters who work at the Yard,” said David Ehrenberg, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
Paradise Valley Estates will welcome the Optimus Ride vehicle system onto its private, gated community this summer. During the initial phase of the program at Paradise Valley Estates, the primary service will be to provide prospective residents with self-driving tours of the community. Additionally, residents will be able to access Optimus Ride through its reservation and on-demand ride services to travel to-and-from their friends’ homes, as well as travel to the community/health center, and access outdoor activities within the property.
