Autonomous vehicle technology company Perrone Robotics and Tropos Motors, a compact electric vehicle manufacturer and supplier, have announced a partnership to produce fully autonomous electric low-speed vehicles (e-LSVs) and trucks.
The resulting vehicle will combine Perrone’s own TONY (To Navigate You) AV retrofit kit, a system that embeds into any vehicle type for any job, along with Tropos Motors’ own line of all-electric, street-legal vehicles, including its eCUVs (electric Commercial Utility Vehicles).
As a result, the pair hopes to produce a compact utility AV capable of carrying out tasks in a range of sectors including cargo, delivery, agricultural, industrial, municipal and campus transportation operations. A series of emergency and first response vehicles are also in development and are expected to be made available toward the end of 2021.
The short wheelbase and turning radius of Tropos vehicles make the compact autonomous utility vehicles perfect for operations in both tight indoor and outdoor spaces, enabling the vehicle to be deployed in a range of other industries. In addition, Perrone’s autonomy provides a scalable solution built around a full-stack platform and a safety certifiable framework.
“The demand for reliable and proven AV solutions in today’s mobility market continues to expand. By partnering with Tropos, we’re able to jointly offer customers a solution for transit of goods across a wide variety of applications that is tested, scalable and sustainable,” explained Paul Perrone, CEO, Perrone Robotics.
“Integrating the Tropos novel payload adaptable vehicle platform with Perrone’s fully autonomous technology delivers a new kind of option for customers who need cost-effective and scalable solutions across their cargo and delivery model. The collaboration results in an accelerated production pathway to meet the increasing demand for Electric Low Speed Vehicle (e-LSV) applications across industries.”
“Our best-in-class electric vehicles coupled with Perrone’s turnkey, drop-in AV solution helps our customers transition to more cost-effective and environmentally friendly fleets simply and quickly,” commented John Bautista, founder and CEO, Tropos Technologies. “Autonomous e-LSVs are becoming increasingly important to the market given the zero emissions and reduced total cost of ownership when compared to traditional fleet vehicles.”