Arrival's Electric Van Completes Autonomous Demonstration

EV startup Arrival has completed the demonstration of its electric van for self-driving purposes - showcasing it at a fully functioning parcel depot without a driver inside. This is the first time Arrival's Van has completed an autonomous drive of any kind which now opens up the avenue for road testing. Arrival is an EV startup based in London and Charlotte which has even partnered with Uber for making electric vehicles for the ride-sharing service, called the Arrival Car. 

The interesting thing about Arrival is that it designs its components and software and has a unique assembly process that allows it to maximise the entire widget of the supply chain. It even makes Arrival Buses and Vans for logistics giant UPS. Only last month Arrival closed a deal for five of its electric Buses from the city of Anaheim in California. It has been developing its automated driving system to provide autonomous capabilities for its future owners. 

In the demonstration it completed all the operations a commercial fleet driver would perform on average but all of this happens autonomously without the presence of a driver in the vehicle. It developed this technology as part of a project called Robopilot whose goal is to improve market knowledge, functionality and public perception of autonomous driving systems. 

UK's Arrival is also working with Uber to make a car designed for ride-sharing 

"At Arrival, we are building supplementary technologies that will help drivers. Depot manoeuvres are the most accident-prone parts of a worker's shift and with our technology, we hope to introduce greater safety by removing human driving errors happening in confined environments. We are starting with a fixed controlled environment in the depot, where we are truly able to test and validate our technology. We can then understand how it will operate on public roads, in our vehicles, and how it can be implemented worldwide," said Max Kumskoy, Arrival's head of advanced driver assistance and automated driving systems. 

Arrival is planning to use this research to develop a scalable automated driving system that relies on computer vision much like Tesla. Its ADAS currently covers levels 0-3 while it is developing for levels 4 and level 5. After more testing and validation of the Arrival Van ADS in controlled environments, the company has plans of testing the technology on the roads in the UK.