Byton partners with Aurora on autonomous driving

Electric vehicle maker Byton is to partner with Aurora, a self-driving technology company, to incorporate Level 4 (L4) autonomous-driving vehicle capabilities into Byton vehicles and bring them and eventually Level 5 (L5) cars to market.

In the next two years, Byton and Aurora will jointly conduct pilot deployment of Aurora’s L4 autonomous driving systems on Byton vehicles and explore the use of Aurora’s self-driving system in Byton’s series production vehicles.

According to the Society of Automotive Engineers, L4 autonomous vehicles can drive independently in most environments, with the expectations that humans may need or choose to drive in some conditions.

Dr. Daniel Kirchert, President and Co-Founder at Byton, said, “I’m confident that Aurora will be instrumental in helping Byton achieve its objectives as an innovator of smart, premium electric cars with Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous driving.”

Chris Urmson, CEO at Aurora, said, “We are excited to partner with Byton, an innovator in the electric vehicle industry, to further advance our goal of delivering self-driving vehicles quickly, broadly and safely. We look forward to piloting this technology in California.”

Earlier last month at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, Byton announced plans to design and build smart premium electric cars for the Chinese, U.S. and European markets. Sales are set to begin in China in 2019, and sales in the United States and Europe to start in 2020.