May Mobility, an autonomous driving technology company has announced its second driverless operation in the U.S. will be based in Ann Arbor, MI. For the company, testing its driverless ‘driver-out’ technology in Ann Arbor represents the next step in the expansion of its autonomous vehicle services commercially across the U.S. and Japan alongside its key partners, including Toyota, NTT and Lyft.
The Ann Arbor testing will operate around approximately 2 square miles of Ann Arbor surface streets and involve highly complex traffic, weather patterns and pedestrian density. The driverless capabilities to be tested in these conditions were demonstrated by May Mobility through 30-minute autonomous vehicle rides conducted on public roads during its Technology Day held in Ann Arbor.
May Mobility’s vehicles utilize its proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology that leverages in-situ AI to interpret data in real-time, allowing it to continuously learn and adapt to new, complex and even unpredictable driving conditions to help create a safer, more comfortable ride. In doing so, MPDM adapts to unexpected, dynamic conditions or ‘edge cases’, and allows the company to scale quickly and efficiently to new environments. May Mobility has, likewise, continued to develop and advance the technology to handle an increasingly complex operational design domain (ODD).
As part of its latest driverless operations, May Mobility introduced its latest generation of autonomy hardware and UX upgrades. Through these upgrades, passengers will get a view of the vehicle’s perception and decision-making ability while it navigates during each ride. The vehicles will also offer new accessibility features, including automated audio announcements and a physical keypad that includes braille. Accounting for the lack of safety operator behind the wheel within its new driverless operations, May Mobility has implemented a Tele-Assist platform that consistently monitors vehicle behavior and can provide vehicle assistance as needed. As a result, riders with questions or concerns can connect directly with customer support by pressing a button.
