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Robotic Research and TESIAC Announce Strategic Alliance to Revolutionize Urban Mobility
ROBOTIC RESEARCH AND TESIAC ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO REVOLUTIONIZE URBAN MOBILITY
Relationship will advance future-proof, smart city, mobility options for public and private sectors
CLARKSBURG, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Robotic Research, a global leader in autonomous driving technology and solutions, announced today that it has formed a strategic relationship with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider TESIAC to deliver advanced mobility options as part of a larger smart city offering to government and private industry customers.
“TESIAC’s ability to provide a comprehensive, continuously upgraded infrastructure solution that requires no initial capital outlay is a game-changer, not just for mobility, but for energy, operations, and management too,” said Eddie Mottern, Executive Vice President for Robotic Research. “We’re honored to form this strategic alliance and be TESIAC’s autonomy partner for this next-generation mobility offering.”
Robotic Research will be leveraging its extensive experience deploying autonomy solutions for the mass transit, trucking, first-last mile, and accessible transit markets, as well as its support of Programs of Record for the U.S. military, such as Expedient-Leader Follower. Thanks to its 19-year-long history working with the Department of Defense, Robotic Research has created one of the largest autonomous vehicle fleets in the world.
TESIAC will benefit from Robotic Research’s experience to execute on its mission of developing a solution set for smart city projects with mobility at its core. With the support of private capital investment from TESIAC’s capital partners, these projects will be developed with the client’s end goals in mind. Preparing for full autonomy is one of the critical elements of TESIAC’s technology continuum which, through private investment, provides customers with a peace of mind that solutions can be programmatically upgraded and will not become outdated or obsolete within the scope of a project.
“TESIAC focuses on scalable and integrated infrastructure to bring efficient and more effective practices to sustainable development,” said Karen Morgan, a Managing Partner at TESIAC; “And with its vast experience, Robotic Research will help TESIAC create an ‘innovation continuum’ to meet its’ clients objectives.”
TESIAC, Robotic Research, and Verizon are organizing partners of the Electric Mobility Symposium (EMS) to be held on June 24th, at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in San Diego. EMS brings together companies and technologies that make up this next-generation, smart city ecosystem, showing how 5G, autonomous mobility, electric vehicles, and microgrid technology unlock the clean, connected base of the future.
“It’s all about showing how these various technologies create an ecosystem that not only makes life better on a military base but can—and will—be replicated in the civilian world, with municipalities and private industry,” said Mottern.
About Robotic Research
Robotic Research is U.S.-based, global leader in localization, autonomy, and robotic technology transforming the way we move. Founded in 2002, the Company has been a trusted technology partner to the public and private sector for nearly twenty years. From people to platforms, at home or overseas, Robotic Research is driven to make the way you move smarter, safer, and more efficient.
To learn more about Robotic Research, visit www.rr.ai, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About TESIAC
TESIAC is a Managed Services Platform that delivers Infrastructure-as-a-Service to public and private entities through flexible project management and innovative financial structures. TESIAC operates at the nexus of mobility, technology, energy, and capital markets. By doing so we enable integrated and interoperable systems to enhance overall efficiencies, increase operational performance, and create layers of sustainable value. TESIAC brings together an experienced interdisciplinary team and partners with new and advanced technologies. Our core principles are centered around smart city development with a focus on climate, social equity, and job creation.
To learn more about TESIAC visit www.tesiac.com.
Contacts
Robotic Research Contact
Taylor Smith
Press@rr.ai
TESIAC Contact
Emma Buls
emma.buls@tesiac.com


These multi-tasking machines can roll across the ground—or fly through the air Meet the Pegasus family of drones.
These multi-tasking machines can roll across the ground—or fly through the air
Meet the Pegasus family of drones.

Behold the Pegasus! In September last year, the US Army tested the drone as part of Project Convergence, a big exercise exploring future machines of war. A photo reveals its matte-black form stark against the sky, a red light glowing in the middle of an obsidian fuselage.
“These vehicles fit a new category of robotic systems,” Alberto Lacaze, president of Pegasus-maker Robotic Research, said in a release from the Army about the event. “They aren’t quite ground vehicles, they’re not quite aerial vehicles—they’re somewhere in between.”
The Pegasus family of drones comes in three sizes, ranging from 4 to 38 pounds. The electric drones are all designed to fly between 20-30 minutes—or to drive for several hours on the ground. In the photo above, the tracks it can cruise on are lifted up like guardrails around its rotors.
Endurance in the sky and on the ground varies with battery size and airframe. The light Pegasus Mini is listed as having only 2 hours of drive time, whereas the larger Pegasus III can travel for up to 8 hours.
Building a multi-modal drone comes with certain design trade-offs. The weight of tracks on a quadcopter can limit endurance in flight, while accommodating rotors on a tracked vehicle means a more spread-out body than normally seen on military ground robots. What the combined design promises is the ability to get above, around, under, and through obstacles.
On tracks, a Pegasus could roll through a culvert and then, once on the other side, take flight, signaling if the passage is safe for humans to follow. When equipped with sensors, the drones can record and transmit video to human operators. If a Pegasus scouts an area and is successfully recovered (not always a guarantee in war), that information can be uploaded and used to generate a 3D map of what it recorded.
As billed, the drones can also operate in areas without GPS. That’s key because GPS can be actively denied by enemies using jammers (or disabling satellites, should a war escalate to the exchange of missiles in orbit), and it can also just be passively denied, by operating in terrain like mountains or caves that make it hard to receive signals.
In such situations, a robot that can scout and map terrain could prove especially valuable, as it restores an understanding of the area to a military accustomed to operating with GPS. Like many of the technologies tested in Project Convergence, the Pegasus family will likely undergo future testing and evaluation to see if the military will adopt it. What it does promise is a way to get both a ground and aerial scout into the same body. And one version is small enough to fit on a backpack.
Read more on Popsci.com.


Robotic Research: Harnessing AV Potential
Robotic Research: Harnessing AV Potential
Robotic Research is leading in AV R&D, from work with the US Army to enabling the first automated BRT line in North America: Gordon Feller assesses what the company is doing in ITS International.

In 2020 the US government set an R&D priority for multiple Federal agencies – some of them civilian, some of them military – to promote automated vehicles (AVs). One special study released by the US National Science & Technology Council and US Department of Transportation helped to specify the focus of the new priority: Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 4.0. The report makes the case for a push into some different R&D domains, suggesting that AVs are likely to play a role in future missions from the Department of Defense (DoD) – and that military research would contribute to AVs’ civilian applications too.
Where exactly is this DoD commitment being made so visible? The race to safe, fully autonomous vehicles is picking up speed. However, for the US Army safety doesn’t just mean avoiding crashes; it means removing the driver from the vehicle altogether. In off-road terrain, GPS-denied environments, and poor weather conditions the US Army is driving driverless autonomous vehicles forward and backwards. Robotic Research is the autonomy provider behind the army’s Leader-Follower programme, the Federal government initiative that marks the Army’s first real fully autonomous military systems. Surprisingly, it’s not from Silicon Valley. Instead, it comes from a company in Clarksville, Maryland.
Tesla and Waymo
Key players like Tesla and Waymo are helping to set the pace for AV development, technological maturity, regulations and safety. So Silicon Valley may appear to be leading the pack - yet thousands of miles away Robotic Research is developing and demonstrating its autonomous technology on OshKosh’s Palletised Load System (PLS) trucks and has already delivered nearly 100 approved AVs. These ruggedised logistics trucks run unmanned in rough terrain, vegetation and dust, which speaks to the leading-edge automation technology that Robotics Research is developing.
The benefit to the Army is immeasurable. Logistical operations, often requiring soldiers to ride in a convoy, are among the more dangerous duties for any soldier. Deploying unmanned convoys provides a life-saving solution to this highly dangerous problem.
Unfortunately, removing the soldiers does little to make these large, slow-moving assets less vulnerable to attack. But for Robotic Research, that just presented another complex challenge. The company recently announced it has added Retrotraverse to its AutoDrive-M autonomy kit, enabling the autonomous reversing of these PLS trucks, even while towing double-hitch trailers – a challenge for even the most seasoned drivers. If a platoon of unmanned vehicles encounters a dangerous situation, the entire convoy can navigate its way out in reverse, regardless of limited clearance they may have or what the trucks have in tow.
The implications for the military are clear. The capability to autonomously drive and reverse a platoon of trucks removes the solider from harm’s way and ensures logistical operations can maintain or improve their efficiency. For other edge case applications like logging or mining, risks in some of the industry’s most dangerous routes can be mitigated and the efficiency of transporting material can be significantly increased.
In the commercial trucking space, much of the interest in autonomy has focused on solving driver shortages and increasing fuel efficiency.
The US Army’s goal to fully remove the driver from logistics trucks is helping to spur innovation and will likely propel the commercialization of this technology for large-scale product transport. But drivers shouldn’t fret. With an emphasis on vehicle-agnostic autonomy, reversing technology, and navigating in GPS-denied environments, companies like Robotic Research are helping to eliminate the pain points of drivers, not their jobs. With roughly 67% of trucking accidents happening in parking lots, the ability to let autonomy take the wheel when entering a lot or yard could be a dream come true for many drivers, businesses and insurance companies.
Autonomous technology provider
As an autonomous-technology provider, Robotic Research is also helping Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDoT) make historic advancements in automated public transit thanks to a new programme funded by the USDoT. Through the Federal Transit Administration's Integrated Mobility Innovation (IMI) initiative, Robotic Research’s proprietary AutoDrive advanced driver-assistance system is enabling the automation of heavy-duty transit buses for revenue service deployment. This innovation will be a first for mass transportation systems in all of North America.
When the programme launches for public use, three 40-foot, automated, electric New Flyer Xcelsior Charge heavy-duty transit buses will be operating on the CTfastrak corridor, a dedicated nine-mile stretch for exclusive use by CTtransit buses. The bus operations will be a zero-emission deployment running between New Britain and downtown Hartford.
This pioneering operation will utilise automated technology to improve transportation accessibility for passengers with disabilities while improving efficiency and the rider experience for all passengers.

As the first automated Bus Rapid Transit line put into revenue service in North America, the CTtransit initiative also marks the first application of automated precision docking to minimise platform gaps, ensuring boarding is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 - which prohibits discrimination based on disability such as blindness – and increasing accessibility for all passengers.
The automated driving objectives of this project also include the demonstration of platooning capabilities to maintain more efficient headways between buses.
Connecticut is one of 23 US states now receiving IMI funding, which aims to advance mobility through creative partnerships and emerging technologies, combining public and private transportation assets and strategies to increase access to mobility for everyone.
The team for this project is led by CTDoT and also supported by New Flyer of America and the non-profit Center for Transportation and Environment.
Future of mass transit
Automated buses have great potential in public transportation, New Flyer thinks. “The technology is real and it’s here,” said company president Chris Stoddart.
He anticipates that fleets of automated buses will improve road safety, shorten commute times, increase energy efficiency and reduce congestion.
“As standards and regulations are developed and implemented and automated buses are deployed across North America, we expect our Xcelsior AV to enable meaningful improvements in the public transit user experience, which will hopefully lead to increased ridership,” he continues. “Together with Robotic Research, we are leading clean, accessible, reliable mobility that’s safer for all.”
Alberto Lacaze, Robotic Research’s president, speaks of his excitement for future collaboration and joint work on public transportation and autonomous technology. “Welcome to the future of mass transit,” he said. “Automated transit buses, like the Xcelsior AV, are not just safer and greener, but more efficient. By optimising rider capacity, improving traffic flow, and reducing stop-and-go accordion delays, these vehicles have the potential to not only increase the efficiency of travel for those on board, but for all vehicles on the road.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robotic Research and New Flyer
Robotic Research provides autonomy software and robotic technology and solutions, and has been collaborating with bus company New Flyer as its exclusive autonomous technology partner supporting its automated technology programme.
New Flyer is North America’s heavy-duty transit bus leader, whose Xcelsior and Xcelsior Charge brands incorporate a broad range of drive systems, including clean diesel, natural gas, diesel-electric hybrid, trolley-electric, battery-electric, and fuel cell-electric.
Robotic Research’s AutoDrive ADAS technology is platform-agnostic and can be used to retrofit vehicles of all sizes, from small, portable robots to large trucks and buses. The system provides autonomous functionality on surfaces ranging from urban-improved roads to off-road terrain, all while the vehicle is collecting and analysing data to enhance the future of transportation.
Robotic Research has deployed SAE Level 4 automated vehicles into multiple operating environments across the US and around the world, including urban commercial centres, military bases and government sectors. The company’s ADAS technology is currently operating in 30 states and on four continents.
New Flyer parent NFI Group provides a suite of mass transportation solutions under various brands, manufacturing approximately 8,800 buses and coaches annually, actively supporting over 105,000 buses and coaches currently in service throughout the world and delivering electric buses to multiple US properties.


ABRT: Reducing Congestion, Costs while Improving Safety, Efficiency
ABRT: Reducing Congestion, Costs while Improving Safety, Efficiency
Automated Bus Rapid Transit represents an innovation that promises to reduce operating costs while delivering benefits, but support is needed from transit agencies and policymakers.
Jun 8th, 2021

In June 2020, the Connecticut Department of Transportation announced plans to test North America's first full size automated transit bus project.
CTDOT
Municipal transit authorities are struggling with a variety of issues, including aging infrastructure and declining ridership. Transit authorities are at a transformative point. The question is whether they use the same existing service model or embrace technology to help solve many of their problems. I believe transit authorities should embrace this transformational tipping point to embrace technology as it will make them more efficient, easier to operate and improve the quality of service, all while cutting operating costs.
Automated Bus Rapid Transit (ABRT) is a technology solution that promises to reduce operating costs while delivering benefits such as reducing headway, improving on-time service, providing better passenger safety and offering easier access for handicapped passengers. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) is being added in new bus models or retrofitted to existing bus fleets to provide automated features such as collision avoidance, lane assist, precision docking and other features to assist bus drivers.
ARBT also requires action from policymakers. Policymakers need to dedicate funding, which has and remains an issue for all transit authorities, but they must also take action by creating dedicated bus lanes and synchronized traffic controls. Once established, bus platooning technology makes it easier to scale service to accommodate more passengers when needed. Platooning also can improve safety by spreading passengers among multiple buses to maintain social distancing to prevent COVID-19 exposure.
ABRT promises to improve bus transit in various ways, but there are three primary areas where automation can have a real impact on transit service: increasing efficiency, optimizing costs and improving safety.
How ABRT Increases Transit Efficiency
Recent research from the Eno Center for Transportation titled, “A Budding Model: Los Angeles's Flower Street Bus Lane,” shows the benefit of installing bus lanes. Eno studied the effects of a 1.8-mile, peak hour bus lane installed by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro), in partnership with the
Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). Although installed as a temporary measure to address traffic delays due to rail station closures, it had a big impact. Specifically, the research found:
“[T]he bus lane greatly improved mobility, accounting for more than 80 percent of people moving in the corridor, or around 10,000 bus riders a day during the peak-hour period. Person-throughput increased 37 percent compared to pre-traffic conditions with limited reduction of the capacity in general use lanes for private vehicles. Two-thirds of bus customers and two-thirds of operators reported time savings. This perceived time savings is consistent with observed travel times, which improved up to 30 percent throughout the corridor.”
Keep in mind, this was not with an automated bus.
Automated buses are ideal for fixed-route bus systems that operate 50 percent or more of their route on a dedicated guideway. These systems tend to have defined passenger stations, traffic signal priority and a short headway providing bidirectional services during peak hours on weekdays.
For example, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is testing automated technology on its CTfastrak bus rapid transit corridor, one of its most heavily traveled routes between New Britain and Hartford. The CTDOT system uses an express bus lane for its CTfastrak service, which makes it a good candidate for automated bus technology. New Flyer buses equipped with Robotic Research’s AutoDrive® advanced driver-assistance system are being placed into service to automate features such as steering, which reduces operator stress. Incorporating a drive-by-wire system to automate control of the brakes, steering and throttle enables automated lane-keeping that helps drivers keep buses centered in the lane. This can be a real stress-reducer for operators and a technology that makes narrower lanes more practical.
Connected vehicle communications also opens new possibilities to increase passenger capacity while controlling costs. Bus platooning, sometimes called “leader-follower,” can be used to create bus platoons to increase capacity during peak times, making it possible to move more buses while reducing headway. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is experimenting with platooning to increase rush-hour capacity on the approach to Lincoln Tunnel.
Greater Cost Efficiencies with ABRT
Adopting ABRT offers transit authorities many cost-saving benefits, as well, especially when compared to alternative strategies such as light rail. Automated buses don’t need a dedicated rail system or a dedicated right of way. Buses can use the existing roadways, or they can use dedicated lanes to create temporary transit systems at peak times and then revert to handle normal traffic the rest of the time.
Automated buses can help reduce the amount of training required to perform difficult maneuvers, like precision docking, which is particularly useful for articulated buses where it is difficult to align the rear doors to the platform stop,by adding automating these functions. . Automated precision docking also reduces damage to vehicles and transit stops, which not only reduces repair costs but also cuts insurance costs.
Using automated controls to guide the bus for precision docking ensures that passengers with mobility devices or disabilities can board every time. Precision docking aligns the bus for level boarding for all riders and that the gap is no more than three inches in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. When you consider that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) estimates that the average BRT trip cost is $3.43 while the average cost for accessible service (i.e., demand-responsive paratransit) is $39.51 per trip, being able to accommodate more passengers with disabilities using conventional buses can generate substantial financial returns.
Automation Improves Safety
Automation can improve bus safety by augmenting the operator’s eyes and ears. ABRT reduces mishaps and accidents by helping the driver overcome blind spots and “see” potential hazards before there is an accident.
Automated bus technology is playing an increasingly important role in collision avoidance. In 2018, U.S. transit agencies reported 4,676 bus collisions, 16,348 injuries, 84 fatalities and $684 million in liability expenses. What’s more, 74 percent of high-value bus claims (over $100,000) were related to collisions.
To increase safety and eliminate costs from accidents, automated collision avoidance systems are being installed to assist operators by providing visibility in blind spots. Imaging sensors, such as cameras, radar and LIDAR (light detection and ranging), can now generate a real-time virtual model of the area surrounding the bus, detecting encroaching traffic or pedestrians. The same technology can be used to monitor problem areas, such as rear entry doors, which can be especially hazardous.
These same sensor systems can not only alert the driver to potential obstacles, but they also can be linked to bus braking and steering using drive-by-wire installations. Avoidance and Emergency Braking (AEB) systems have become common in passenger cars and are increasingly being used in transit buses to prevent collisions with pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles that share the road. Furthermore, automated braking and acceleration also provide smoother stops and starts which generate a more comfortable ride while reducing passenger falls.
These are just three areas where automation will transform bus transit systems. As with all robotic technology, the objective is to make the operator’s life easier. Automation enhances driver capabilities, removing stress from bus operations by offering assistance with tough tasks such as docking alignment, monitoring blind spots and supplementing bus operations with automated safety systems like AEB.
And the good news for bus transit authorities is this technology is available today. Transit operators such as CTDOT and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority are procuring new buses and retrofitting buses already in service with new sensors and drive-by-wire technology. And as the technology continues to become more sophisticated and more cost-effective, expect to see more ABRT systems emerge in the near future.
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Alberto Lacaze is the co-founder and president of Robotic Research and a recognized expert in robotic engineering.


Pentagon Experiments with Self-Driving Shuttles at San Diego Military Base
Pentagon Experiments with Self-Driving Shuttles at San Diego Military Base
Driverless technology provider Robotic Research and Verizon Public Sector on Wednesday confirmed their cooperative involvement in a pilot project to explore the use of autonomous shuttles at the Marine Corps Air Station, or MCAS, Miramar’s 5G Living Lab in San Diego.
NavalX SoCal Tech Bridge, US Ignite and Local Motors are also involved in this 90-day experiment with self-moving shuttles to transport people and packages around the military installation.
“This pilot is one example of how 5G-enabled applications carry the potential of enhancing operational effectiveness,” Verizon’s Senior Vice President of Public Sector Jennifer Chronis told Nextgov Wednesday.
The announcement comes almost a year after Verizon and MCAS Miramar unveiled their plans to deploy the former’s 5G Ultra Wideband on a military base for the very first time. Working with a range of strategic partners, they’ve since started to demonstrate 5G-enabled innovations across artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles and drones in real-world scenarios at the living lab. Broadly, those involved are assessing the benefits such next-generation wireless capabilities can bring to public safety, commerce and energy management.
“Working in conjunction with our partners in the Marine Corps at Miramar, we have created a true testbed for innovation—innovation that will have tremendous impact within the Department of Defense and across the public sector,” Chronis said.
This endeavor is new, but Chronis added that Robotic Research’s “commitment to MCAS Miramar began far before this pilot.” The company has been providing the Pentagon with autonomous technology solutions for nearly 20 years. In particular, she noted it specializes in “platform-agnostic autonomy,” enabling the automation of “a wide variety of platforms for both government and commercial customers.” In 2017, the Maryland-based company became the Autonomy Strategic Partner for the Marine Corps autonomous proving grounds at MCAS Miramar.
“This initial partnership led to additional collaboration focused on the use of autonomous technology on both the battlefield and installations,” Chronis said. “Current efforts include the unmanned logistics systems prototype being developed as well as the trial of low-speed autonomous shuttles doing package delivery on base.”
Through this fresh pilot, Robotic Research’s AutoDrive autonomy kit provides the self-driving capabilities of Local Motors’ autonomous shuttle, Olli, rolling through the military installation. Verizon’s 5G will transmit the heaps of system and sensor data collected by the shuttle back to a storage service, which is also provided by Robotic Research.
“Understanding the operational needs of our partners in the Marine Corps is a top priority,” Chronis noted, “and learning how 5G UWB, in conjunction with autonomous vehicle technology and real-time sensor data, can be leveraged to make package delivery more efficient across multiple scenarios—from tools to the flight line, to mail delivery, to product for retail environments—is a step forward in addressing the digital transformation needs at Miramar, and beyond.”
Generally, autonomous shuttles currently operate with an onboard safety operator. But one element the partners mentioned exploring in this project includes approaches where one person monitors a single fleet remotely, from a centralized location.
Verizon and Robotic Research are slated to showcase some of what’s to come during the Electric Mobility Symposium at MCAS Miramar on June 24.


Robotic Research, Verizon collaborate on autonomous shuttles at MCAS Miramar
CLARKSBURG, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Robotic Research, LLC (rr.ai), a global leader in autonomous driving technology and solutions, and Verizon Public Sector, a key Department of Defense digital transformation partner, announced today their joint support of an autonomous shuttle pilot project with US Ignite, Local Motors, and NavalX SoCal Tech Bridge as part of the 5G Living Lab at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, in San Diego.
As part of the 90-day pilot, Robotic Research is providing the autonomous driving technology for Local Motors’ autonomous shuttle, Olli, transporting people and packages around MCAS Miramar, leveraging Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband to transmit the vast system and sensor data collected by the shuttle back to Robotic Research’s nSight™ Vault storage service.
“Once the data is uploaded to nSight Vault through Verizon’s 5G network, our nSight Review system monitors health and performs data analytics to continuously improve the operation of the autonomous shuttles,” said Joe Putney, Director of Commercial Systems at Robotic Research. “We really benefit from Verizon’s 5G service at MCAS Miramar providing real-time access to the large amounts of data generated by the system.”
Verizon Public Sector and MCAS Miramar announced the first-ever 5G Ultra Wideband deployment on a military base last July. Since then, in collaboration with a number of strategic partners, they have created a true testbed for innovation, exploring 5G-enabled innovations across autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and drones.
Robotic Research officials see the nationwide rollout of 5G as creating huge opportunities for autonomous vehicles by enabling higher-bandwidth and real-time sharing of data between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure. Among the other areas of focus being pursued, the 5G Labs team within Verizon is exploring the benefits of 5G around public safety, frictionless commerce, and energy management.
“We have worked collaboratively with the NWIC Pacific team to create a true testbed for innovation at MCAS Miramar,” said Jennifer Chronis, Senior Vice President of Public Sector at Verizon. “Leaders across the Department of Defense understand the mission-critical role 5G plays in unlocking innovation for the military, and strategic partners like Robotic Research are bringing to life some of the exciting technologies that are possible when you integrate 5G.”
One area of innovation includes onboard safety attendants. Currently, in most autonomous shuttles, there is a steward who monitors the health and status of the vehicle. But as the autonomous industry continues to mature, it could follow a similar model to that of home security systems.
“Rather than having a security guard in your home, there is a security system that provides information to a centralized location, where a single person can monitor many homes simultaneously,” Putney said. “Similarly, you could have automated vehicles sharing data with a centralized monitoring station, so a single person can monitor and control a fleet of vehicles.”
All that is required is a reliable data backbone, and Robotic Research officials see Verizon’s 5G network as the next step in the right direction.
Both Robotic Research and Verizon will be showcasing the benefits of combined 5G and autonomous mobility during the Electric Mobility Symposium, June 24th at MCAS Miramar.
About Robotic Research
Robotic Research is U.S.-based, global leader in localization, autonomy, and robotic technology transforming the way we move. Founded in 2002, the Company has been a trusted technology partner to the public and private sector for nearly twenty years. From people to platforms, at home or overseas, Robotic Research is driven to make the way you move smarter, safer, and more efficient.
To learn more about Robotic Research, visit www.rr.ai, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Contacts
Taylor Smith
Press@rr.ai