After several years developing and deploying its autonomous-ready Renault Twizy-based AV development platform, StreetDrone announced the introduction of a new vehicle to its program, at Autonomous Vehicle Technology Expo. To allow tech developers to test their systems on larger vehicles, such as for ridesharing, the company has adapted its technology to a Nissan eNV 200.
The new vehicle integrates full drive-by-wire capability, sensors on a flexible adaptable roof rack, a future-proofed computational hardware bay, and a fully connected data service. The system is compliant with the UK Department for Transport’s guidelines for public road testing of automated vehicles.
In addition, StreetDrone will be supporting its customers in deploying open source self-driving software, with the company working to achieve compatibility with software stacks such as Autoware as part of its commitment as a founding member of the Autoware Foundation.
“Our technology is designed to be really flexible, so that if you have a particular use case you want to test, we can integrate the hardware suited to that use case. In theory, our drive-by-wire and safety approach and open-source software is all transferable to whatever vehicle people want to use. We currently have a fixed range of vehicles, but we can look at other projects,” said Joseph Smith, business development manager.