Autonomous shuttle service trial begins in Paris

A new, autonomous shuttle service has been launched in the heart of Europe’s largest business district, Paris La Défense.

The service was launched by NAVYA and KEOLIS, in partnership with Paris public transport authority Ile-de-France Mobilités (Ex-STIF) and DEFACTO, following its inauguration on 3 July 2017.

The service will be a six month trial, using three NAVYA ARMA fully autonomous, 100% driverless and electric shuttles. It aims to meet the mobility needs of passengers, and remain in keeping with the city of Paris’s approach to innovation in favour of new sustainable mobility solutions.

The service is free of charge for users and offers three different routes, seven days a week, serving the main areas of the Paris La Défense district, which welcomes 500,000 visitors every day. During the first three months, operators will be present on-board the shuttles. However, the second phase will see the NAVYA ARMA shuttles running in full autonomous mode, with no operators on-board. This is the first time that such a trial will have been conducted in a semi-pedestrian area.

The starting point for the three tracks is at the foot of Grande Arche of La Défense, from where the ‘Grande Arche – Quartier Valmy’ and ‘Faubourg de l’Arche – Technip FMC Tower’ routes will run every 10 minutes during peak times during the week, and shuttles will run every 20 minutes at the weekends on the ‘Grande Arche – Cheminée de Moretti’ route.

The NAVYA ARMA shuttles can carry up to 15 people, and reach speeds of 28mph, however this is often limited to 15mph due to the nature of the routes it serves.

The experimentation will be conducted until at least the end of December 2017. This will allow thorough testing of the 100% autonomous and eco-friendly public transport service, in a very dense urban area, for the purpose of a possible deployment in the years to come.

“NAVYA are delighted to have been selected for this trial in Paris. Our aim is to participate in paving the way for the future of mobility and what better testing ground than the largest pedestrian area in Europe!” enthused Christophe Sapet, CEO of NAVYA.