Eugene-based electric vehicle company Arcimoto has teamed up with autonomous technology startup Faction Technology to develop the Faction D1, a next-generation driverless delivery vehicle based on the Arcimoto Platform. The vehicle would offer a highly efficient solution for last-mile deliveries with a significant reduction in emission.
Equipped with Faction’s DriveLink and TeleAssist technologies, the completely driverless D1 combines autonomy with remote human teleoperation. The Faction D1 retains the same drivetrain as Arcimoto’s well-known Fun Utility Vehicles (FUVs), Which means it can travel at a top speed of 75 mph (120 km/h) and has a range of just over 100 miles (161 km). It is expected to be capable of transporting up to 500 pounds (226.7 kg) of cargo per trip.
“Scalable driverless vehicle systems require engineering from the chassis up, and by leveraging the revolutionary Arcimoto Platform, we’re able to develop our driverless system much faster than using legacy vehicle designs,” said Faction CEO Ain McKendrick. “The end result will be a right-sized, ultra-efficient driverless delivery vehicle that reduces pollution and drives down costs for local and last-mile delivery fleets.”
The right-sizing driverless electric vehicle will provide a significant boost in efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and offer significant cost savings over existing transportation solutions, especially during the average urban trip of five miles or less. The driverless D1 features advanced sensors, and safety systems have a configurable cargo compartment that can be adapted for specialized payloads in addition to general fleet-on-demand use. The partnership believes that commercial service costs should add up to less than $2 per mile for delivery operations.
“We’ve been thrilled to work with the Faction team to support driverless development on the Arcimoto platform,” Arcimoto Founder and CEO Mark Frohnmayer said. “With a common mission of deploying ultra-efficient electric vehicles at scale, the commercial launch of the driverless D1 will be a game-changer for last-mile logistics.”
Faction expects to begin pilot customer trials in 2022, and the production models are expected to be released in 2023.
