Cavnue, the technology company leading development of a connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) corridor in the US state of Michigan, has closed a Series A funding round, and received a renewed commitment by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to move on to the next stage of the project linking Detroit and Ann Arbor with a CAV lane.
The capital investment round netted US$130m, led by SIP and Ford Motor Company, with additional investment from Openvia, the technology and innovation platform of the Globalvia Group, and Landstar System. The company will use the capital to drive further innovation and development of its proprietary technology stack and platform and enable it to hire additional talent.
“With billions of dollars already invested in intelligent, connected and autonomous in-vehicle technology, Cavnue will take these technological advancements one step further by adding the roadway into the connected driving experience,” said Tyler Duvall, co-founder and CEO of Cavnue. “By partnering with leading companies across the industry, Cavnue is working to build connected and autonomous vehicle corridors that enable transportation solutions with the potential to save lives by reducing crashes, boosting productivity by cutting time wasted in traffic, and increasing access to personal and shared mobility.”
As part of Ford’s strategic investment, Cavnue will use Ford vehicles and the auto maker’s hands-free driving technology to demonstrate how its smart road platform can enhance vehicle performance experiences through vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity. Ford’s technical team will help Cavnue understand OEM requirements and accelerate development of the digital infrastructure needed to communicate with connected vehicles, including the definition of messages, sensing requirements and protocols.
“At Ford, we are helping build a future of transportation that is safe, connected, sustainable and obtainable for all. That vision goes well beyond vehicles – and includes building an always-on relationship with our customers and delivering an ever-improving user experience,” said Franck Louis-Victor, vice president, new businesses at Ford Next. “Cavnue’s mission to build the world’s most advanced roads aligns with that vision and has the potential to help accelerate the pace at which we can advance driver assistance features and safely deploy autonomous vehicles.”
After evaluating the feasibility of various CAV corridors, Cavnue and MDOT identified an approximately 25-mile segment of Interstate 94 for the initial deployment, which will serve as the US’s first corridor of tech-enabled infrastructure for connected and autonomous vehicles.