Estonian self-driving vehicle manufacturer Auve Tech has announced the launch of MiCa, a new-generation self-driving shuttle. The company’s autonomous vehicle is said to benefit from excellent levels of safety and be capable of driving in a wide range of weather and traffic scenarios.
During the development of MiCa, Auve Tech wanted to ensure the AV was extremely safe. It therefore equipped the vehicle with seven lidar sensors and 10 cameras to ensure MiCa has a 360° view of the surrounding environment. The number of critical systems on board has been doubled to reduce the risk of errors and guarantee reliability. Auve Tech also conducted a large amount of work to ensure the AV benefits from a high level of cybersecurity.
“MiCa is like a time machine that helps us leap into a new era of technology. The world has not seen a self-driving vehicle like this before,” said Johannes Mossov, CEO of Auve Tech. “Our autonomous vehicles have been transporting passengers in 12 countries, in most of them on public roads. These international collaboration projects have helped us make improvements in both software and hardware to excel on the autonomous driving front. The new generation also helps ease the process of integrating autonomous vehicles into a variety of environments.”
Having conducted many years of testing within Estonia, MiCa can undertake operations in harsh weather, including heavy rain and snow. Furthermore, the AV is fitted with a powerful air-conditioning system to enable use in warmer countries.
“Our mission is to offer comfort that urges people to favor public transportation and also provide last-mile transportation in areas where the use of personal cars or larger public transportation is complicated or inefficient,” said Taavi Rõivas, chairman of Auve Tech. “There is strong interest in MiCa in countries that are densely populated. The spacious MiCa is electric and well suited to urban environments while being compact but providing space for more passengers than a regular passenger car.”