Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Peachtree Corners launches autonomous vehicle in partnership with May Mobility and T-Mobile

Peachtree Corners, a smart city in the state of Georgia, United States, has agreed a partnership with autonomous driving technology provider May Mobility to implement its autonomous vehicle solutions.

The implementation will utilize the vehicle 5G communications infrastructure Peachtree Corners has developed in the city with T-Mobile.

This marks May Mobility’s first-ever deployment in the state of Georgia, providing its one-of-a-kind on-demand autonomous solution for reliable transportation.

Starting today, May Mobility will operate its autonomous Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS to demonstrate the technology to visitors of Peachtree Corner’s Curiosity Lab with stops along Technology Parkway.

The service zone includes eight pre-determined stops at popular destinations such as hotels, restaurants, retail shops, office spaces, the Innovation Center at Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners’ City Hall.

The service will open to the general public starting the week of October 7.

Brian Johnson, Peachtree Corners City Manager, says: “We have been able to demo, test and deploy multiple autonomous vehicle solutions since we opened in 2019, and we are excited to continue these efforts by welcoming May Mobility to Peachtree Corners and the state of Georgia.

“As we continue to focus on bringing autonomous mobility options to residents and visitors to better connect them with the community, May Mobility’s solutions provide an on-demand service within our ecosystem, with the goal to slowly expand the route to our Town Center.”

Each May Mobility autonomous vehicle is equipped with its patented Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system that is uniquely designed to solve the challenge of making safe driving decisions, including under uncertainty.

Powered by in-situ AI, MPDM runs on-board simulations in real-time, while driving autonomously, to analyze and learn from thousands of possible scenarios every second, choosing the safest one to execute even when encountering an unknown situation.

Manik Dhar, chief commercial officer for May Mobility, says: “Our autonomous driving technology has proven its ability to scale well across diverse environments, and we’re excited to operate in Peachtree Corners’ real-world smart city.

“This deployment allows us to showcase how MPDM operates both inside and outside of Curiosity Lab’s autonomous vehicle test lanes, while also benefiting from T-Mobile’s 5G.

“We can’t wait for Georgians to experience our autonomous driving technology and bringing this service to Peachtree Corners is an exciting first step for the state.”

May Mobility operations will be Monday through Friday from 8AM-4PM, with each vehicle accommodating up to four passengers at a time.

Users will be able to easily book trips to any of the service’s eight stops on-demand through the May Mobility app, powered by transit tech company Via, available in the App Store and Google Play.

The app promptly guides users on booking a ride and accessing the vehicle, answers questions and more. The deployment will begin with an attendant inside the vehicle with plans to remove the attendant for a fully autonomous service in the near future.

The vehicle will be connected by T-Mobile’s award-winning 5G network, bringing low latency, high-speed connectivity and high bandwidth to vehicle operations and performance.

This will give riders a smoother in-cabin experience, while also enabling May Mobility to enhance real-time viewing of the vehicle platform to monitor safety and operations.

Mike Fitz, vice president of solution sales, T-Mobile for Business, says: “T-Mobile is proud to power continued innovation in Peachtree Corners alongside Curiosity Lab.

“Now, with May Mobility leveraging the nation’s most awarded 5G network, they can advance their solutions to new heights.

“Through our close collaboration with the city, Curiosity Lab and May Mobility, we are committed to ensuring real-time vehicle monitoring that boosts performance, enhances safety and ensures the success of this deployment.”