Continental is taking a minority share in French autonomous driving company EasyMile as it pushes ahead with plans for the development of driverless mobility.

(L-R) Gilbert Gagnaire, CEO of EasyMile SAS, and Frank Jourdan, Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and head of the Chassis & Safety Division.

EasyMile is developing driverless electric shuttles – set to play a key role in addressing the ‘first mile – last mile challenge’ and the two firms will test Continental’s current technologies with EasyMile’s autonomous navigation software and systems, with an objective to develop new technologies for driverless vehicles and to open up new fields of competence.

“We firmly believe that autonomous shuttles will be playing an important part in urban mobility. That’s why it’s important to incorporate the findings from current deployments into our development work, so that this new kind of individual mobility can be shaped,” said Frank Jourdan, Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and Head of the Chassis & Safety Division.

The 12-person EZ10 autonomous shuttle from EasyMile was first released in 2014 and has been deployed in more than 50 cities across 17 countries in Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe.

The completion of the deal is subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.

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