Korea beckons for driverless shuttles
A Kiwi company manufacturing self-driving electric vehicles in Christchurch has struck success in Korea.
Ohmio Automation, a subsidiary of HMI Technologies, launched its driverless shuttles at the Christchurch Art Gallery in September.
On Wednesday, the company’s founder, Mohammed Hikmet, signed an agreement to supply 150 autonomous shuttles to Korean company Southwest Coast Enterprise City Development Co, known as SolaSeaDo.
SolaSeaDo is in the process of securing a contract to build a large-scale smart city in Korea. The shuttles are not ready to be used on city roads, and will not be for many years, but they could operate in controlled environments such as retirement villages, airports, or the campus of a business or university.
Hikmet said the deal was a ‘‘major vote of confidence’’ in the company and ‘‘a great demonstration of what we can do in New Zealand’’.
The shuttles have self-mapping artificial intelligence, which means once they have driven a route under supervision they can remember the way and drive it autonomously, and can calculation their placement to within 20mm. Several shuttles could be linked up to form a convoy.
HMI Technologies chief executive Dean Zabrieszach said the deal would create the largest single deployment of autonomous shuttles in the world.
‘‘Of course, we will only know if this is going to happen if SolaSeaDo finalises the contract for this development. SolaSeaDo is very confident about that outcome, so we are very excited by this prospect.’’
The Auckland-based company made its first sale to Christchurch International Airport in March.
Hikmet said New Zealand’s reputation for innovation helped the company recruit international expertise.
‘‘I expect this arrangement with SolaSeaDo will be the first of many to come.’’