Jaguar Land Rover unveil ‘autonomy ready’ electric shuttle concept that can be configured into a shared car or last-mile delivery vehicle and may be ready by 2021
- ‘Project Vector’ is designed to go autonomous but still has a steering wheel
- It can be configured as a delivery vehicle, share taxi, or regular car
- The vehicle could be ready for road testing as soon as 2021
A new electric shuttle unveiled by Jaguar Land Rover will look to hit a happy medium between autonomous and manual driving.
On Tuesday, the company announced ‘Project Vector’, a futuristic-looking electric shuttle that they say is being built to transition into an autonomous vehicle if and/or when the technology arrives.
While it has a traditional steering wheel and gas/brake pedals, it’s interior is designed to accommodate private or shared use as well as use as a last-mile delivery vehicle.
Jaguar Land Rover want ‘Project Vector’ to function on multiple planes. It can be configured as a car, a shared shuttle, or a last-mile delivery vehicle
The concept measures just four meters in length and is designed for urban use according to the companies. It also frees up interior space by packaging battery and drivetrain components into a flat floor.
The companies said that while Project Vector is still a concept it could be developed for road testing as soon as 2021.
As Project Vector looks to accommodate multiple use cases, other competitors in the autonomous vehicle market have forged ahead with fully self-driving iterations.
Last month, General Motors’ self-driving car company revealed its first driverless vehicle, the Cruise Origin, which has no pedals, no engine, and no steering wheel.
Instead the vehicle relies on sensors and an electric motor to make its way around cities.
It will accommodate four passengers at a time, although a single customer will be able summon it for a ride just like with ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft.
The Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle, a Honda and General Motors self-driving car partnership, is seen during its unveiling in San Francisco
Origin won’t be available on the consumer end but is instead being marketed as an ‘experience people share’ – a publicly accessible form of transport in cities designed to reduce emissions, according to Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said.
Concurrently, self-driving vehicle company, Optimus Ride, launched a fleet of autonomous shuttles in New York City’s Brooklyn Navy Yard this past summer for what will be the city’s biggest test of self-driving tech to date.
The shuttles are completely autonomous and served passengers only on the Navy Yards’ private roads as well through a loop shuttle service connecting NYC Ferry passengers from dock 72 to a gate next to Flushing Avenue.
