Does Navya plan to launch a robotic taxi to beat General Motors?

According to foreign media reports, French start-up company Navya hopes to launch a Robotaxi to defeat self-driving cars developed by GM and Alphabet. Since July of this year, the driverless buses developed by Navy have become a major feature of the Paris business district.

Navya plans to launch a robot taxi to defeat General Motors and other companies

Navya is currently building a smaller car that can only accommodate six people. The model starts at 250,000 euros (US$290,000) and is expected to be launched within one year. Navya launched the Robotaxi prototype in Paris last Tuesday (2017.11.07). Navya has further expanded its strategic objectives by designing both automotive and R&D software, with a view to launching fully-autonomous vehicles earlier than competitors. Navya CEO Christophe Sapet stated in an interview: “We are the first company to conceive and manufacture a fully-autonomously driven car, rather than rebuild an existing car. We want to be the first company to provide a fully-automated driving car.”

GM has established a car sharing business called Maven, and its CruiseAutomation department's testing of self-driving cars has made investors in the automotive industry think that: if GM wants to create a lucrative robot business, then it will create two major components. . Waymo, the auto-driving department of Google’s parent company Alphabet, uses FCA to buy cars and apply them to the cars they buy.

Adventure into the automotive industry is expensive: Dyson plans to invest 2 billion pounds (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the development of an electric car by 2020, not even a driverless car. Dyson has 400 engineers dedicated to the research and development of this project. Navya said that the company's staff is much smaller than Dyson.

Sapet said that Navya research and development robotaxi, the maximum speed of up to 80ph (50mph), will be tested on the streets of Paris in a few weeks, and will be listed in the third quarter of 2018. The French traffic operator Keolis and the Australian Royal Automobile Club (heRoyalAutomobileClubofAustralia) have booked 30 vehicles, both of which will be the first testers of the model. There are many potential customers, including Uber and Hertz and Avis Budget Group, Apple, Renault, or Volkswagen.

But the problem that Navya faces is that these potential customers have plans to develop self-driving cars. In addition, according to the experience of companies such as Tesla, turning a self-driving car into a reality is a very complicated matter. In October of this year, Navya’s competitor NuTonomy was acquired by the supplier Delphi for $450 million. As of now, the small buses launched by Navya are on the right track. Navya invested in the Michigan factory and plans to launch 450 smaller buses by the end of next year. However, when it marketed to investors, it incurred some comments. Last year, Navya had financed 30 million euros. In order to build a new car, the company is ready to integrate more funds.