May Mobility, a leader in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and shuttle operations, will become the autonomous shuttle provider for Autono-MaaS, the transportation project sponsored by the Higashi-Hiroshima City Autono-MaaS Promotion Consortium. The overall goal of the project is to show a practical application of mobility as-a-service (MaaS) by combining AV technology and various mobility services.
May Mobility will begin operating a public route on Hiroshima University’s Higashi-Hiroshima campus starting in March 2021. In subsequent phases of the project, May plans to increase the service area and begin to incorporate on-demand service and mixed-use mobility services by incorporating passenger rides and grocery delivery. In addition to being the technology and platform provider, May Mobility will play a key role in operating and supporting the AV shuttle services. May has begun the process to hire a local team in Japan including operations support, engineers and researchers to support this project and future opportunities in the Japanese market.
“May Mobility is excited to be working with the Higashihiroshima City Autono-MaaS Promotion Consortium on this project and to be deploying our AV service in Japan,” said Edwin Olson, co-founder and CEO of May Mobility. “We are hopeful that our work with the Consortium will demonstrate the benefits and advantages of autonomous public transportation concepts and will help communities throughout Japan implement safe, reliable options to serve the country’s total population needs.”
The Higashi-Hiroshima City Autono-MaaS Promotion Consortium includes Higashi-Hiroshima City, MONET Technologies Inc., and the Institute of Contemporary Culture Co., Ltd. The goal of the Consortium is to create and demonstrate new mobility services for the future.
