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nuTonomy is piloting a R&D fleet of self-driving taxis in Singapore, which will pave the way for the rollout its taxi fleet that could be hailed by a phone call or via a taxi-hailing app
EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, has participated in the US$16 million Series A funding round of leading autonomous vehicle (AV) software firm nuTonomy.
Led by Highland Capital Partners, the round also saw participation from existing investors Fontinalis Partners and Signal Ventures, besides Samsung Ventures.
nuTonomy is piloting a R&D fleet of self-driving taxis in Singapore, which will pave the way for the rollout of world’s first autonomous taxi fleet that could be hailed by a phone call or via a taxi-hailing app.
nuTonomy is the first private company to win governmental approval for testing on public roads in Singapore. The US-and Singapore-based company plans to launch its commercial offering in 2018.
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Dr. Karl Iagnemma, Co-founder and CEO of nuTonomy, said: “nuTonomy’s self-driving vehicle software unlocks access to a multi-trillion dollar global ‘robo-taxi’ opportunity. This funding will accelerate the pace of our progress in deploying self-driving vehicles in Singapore and beyond.”
Founded in 2013 by MIT alumni Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli, nuTonomy develops software for autonomous passenger vehicles. It is developing a complete solution for operating large fleets of autonomous taxis. This includes a software for autonomous vehicle navigation in urban environments, smartphone-based ride hailing, fleet routing and management, and controlling a vehicle remotely through teleoperation.
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nuTonomy’s presence in Singapore will help deepen Singapore capabilities in the Autonomous Vehicle (AV) space. It will support Singapore’s SmartNation vision to incorporate driverless AVs in mass transport services, as we progress towards a ‘car-lite’ and more sustainable Singapore by transforming mobility and addressing limited land and manpower constraints.
In addition to Singapore, nuTonomy is operating self-driving cars in Michigan and the UK, where it tests software in partnership with major automotive industry players such as Jaguar Land Rover and Autoliv.
According to McKinsey, the future global autonomous vehicle (AV) industry will amount to a total of US$1.9 trillion by 2025. This huge market opportunity has attracted the attention of many players such as large technology companies, traditional OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) providers, and startups developing AV technologies.
The post Soon you will be able to ride in a robo-taxi; nuTonomy coming to Singapore with the backing of EDBI appeared first on e27.
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