Beep has announced it is expanding to Peoria, Ariz., the company’s first expansion outside the state of Florida.
The city of Peoria will launch Robo Ride, a pilot program with Beep, that will begin routes on Feb. 22, and will operate daily from noon to 6:00 p.m.
"Peoria has found a fantastic partner in Beep to explore this new technology," said Kevin Burke, Public Works director, city of Peoria. "Beep handles all the permitting, all the programming and all the training. We focus on how we want to use the technology and how we get our community involved. It's been great."
Beep offers the next generation of services for passenger mobility to fleet operators in planned communities and controlled speed environments across the public and private sector. From route planning to on-board interactive services, Beep's autonomous mobility platform provides safe, efficient movement of passengers between defined locations on private and public roads.
"We are very excited to partner with the city of Peoria to provide this innovative transportation solution to their community," said Joe Moye, CEO at Beep. "We've enjoyed tremendous success in our autonomous mobility solution deployments in similar communities and we are confident we will see the same adoption for this sustainable and transformative transportation in Arizona."
Beep's solution is underpinned by NAVYA's AUTONOM shuttle, a fully electric, driverless shuttle that will operate daily in the P83 Entertainment District on Arrowhead Fountain Center Drive from Huntington University to Paradise Lane. Robo Ride, which has no steering wheel or pedals, will use a pre-programmed, fixed route with a combination of localization techniques, involving state-of-the-art sensor technology. It is open to the public without an appointment, fee or pre-screening.
"We are thrilled to be in partnership with Beep to launch this new project in the city of Peoria. It is an ideal environment to showcase the ways in which driverless vehicles integrate seamlessly in our everyday lives and can serve as a model for other cities in North America," said Jerome Rigaud, COO of NAVYA Group.
Robo Ride holds up to 10 passengers at a time and will operate at a maximum speed of 15 mph as part of the pilot program.
