Friday, June 23, 2017

MIT Spinoff Creates Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand Systems for the Masses

Boston is known for many things: The Red Sox baseball team, fresh lobster, the highest density of universities in one city. “Autonomous vehicles” can now be added to the list. Optimus Ride, an MIT spinoff company, recently announced that it has received approval from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to test highly automated vehicles.

Many automakers and shared car networks have grabbed headlines as they race to develop self-driving cars. But fewer companies are thinking about how autonomous vehicles will work together with other forms of transportation to provide complete mobility-on-demand systems. Optimus Ride is approaching this opportunity with a fully autonomous (level 4) system for electric vehicle fleets. Our AI supercomputer for self-driving cars — NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 — will power Optimus Ride’s fleet and enable the company to roll out a safe, practical and accessible form of mobility.