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May Mobility, a leading autonomous driving (AD) technology company, has announced the launch of its second driverless operation in the United States, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This expansion marks another milestone for the company as it works to bring commercial driver-out services to both the U.S. and Japan, partnering with key players such as Toyota, NTT, and Lyft.
- Driver-out testing in Ann Arbor spans approximately 2 square miles of surface streets, handling complex traffic, diverse weather, and heavy pedestrian presence.
- May Mobility demonstrated its autonomous capabilities during the company’s Technology Day, providing 30-minute driverless rides on public roads.
- The company’s patented Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology ensures real-time AI decision-making to handle unpredictable driving scenarios.
- New hardware and user experience (UX) upgrades have been introduced, featuring accessibility improvements, including automated audio announcements and Braille-enabled keypads.
- A Tele-Assist platform supports driverless operations by monitoring vehicle behavior and offering assistance when required.
May Mobility’s driver-out testing in Ann Arbor involves operating on about 2 square miles of city surface streets, which brings challenges including diverse traffic conditions, variable weather, and high pedestrian density. During its Technology Day, the company showcased its driver-out capabilities by providing 30-minute rides to participants, demonstrating its progress in real-world environments.
According to Edwin Olson, CEO and co-founder of May Mobility, “Starting driver-out operations in our second city in under a year shows the scalability of our technology while expanding our capabilities to challenging weather, higher speeds and busy traffic.“
The vehicles utilize May Mobility’s patented Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology, leveraging in-situ AI to continuously learn and adapt to complex, unpredictable conditions. This helps the vehicles handle “edge cases,” or unusual situations that occur on the road, which is a significant challenge for autonomous driving technology. This adaptability allows May Mobility to expand efficiently to new operational environments.
The new driver-out operations also feature May Mobility’s latest autonomy hardware and UX upgrades. Passengers can now observe the vehicle’s perception and decision-making systems in action throughout their journey. To enhance accessibility, the vehicles have also been fitted with automated audio announcements and Braille-enabled physical keypads. The absence of a safety driver means that May Mobility relies on a robust Tele-Assist platform for consistent vehicle monitoring and assistance, ensuring that passengers have access to customer support when needed.
May Mobility has also successfully demonstrated its technology through multiple commercial deployments, including 10 active deployments, set to increase to 13 by the end of the year. The company initially launched its first driver-out operation in Sun City, Arizona, becoming only the third company to achieve driverless operations on public roads. May Mobility is also collaborating with Peachtree Corners, Georgia to bring its driver-out vehicles to the smart city in 2025, while its recent partnership with Lyft aims to transition further deployments to driver-out operations over time.
About May Mobility
May Mobility is an autonomous driving technology company transforming the future of mobility-as-a-service (MaaS). With its patented MPDM system, May Mobility offers a unique, in-situ AI that processes real-time data every 200 milliseconds to ensure safety and adaptability in unpredictable conditions. The company operates shared ride services across the U.S. and Japan, bringing safer, more efficient transportation to various environments, from rural areas to dense urban centers. Supported by partnerships with industry leaders like Toyota and NTT, May Mobility is disrupting the autonomous vehicle sector with practical and scalable solutions, having completed over 400,000 autonomy-enabled rides worldwide.
For more information, visit www.maymobility.com.
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