Navya in deal for autonomous vehicles in Saudi Arabia

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Navya, a leader in the field of autonomous mobility systems, has signed a deal to support the implementation of autonomous vehicles in Saudi Arabia.

Navya signed the agreement with the Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the French Ministry of Transport in Paris.

The projects relate to the deployment of self-driving electric and shared shuttles for the transportation of people, together with the deployment of electric tow tractors for the transportation of goods at airports and industrial sites.

Under the patronage of Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, French Minister of Transport, Engineer Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services, and Sophie Desormière, CEO of Navya, met in Paris for the official signing of the agreement.

The agreement aims to implement pilot projects, validate use-cases, define regulation, and build up local competencies in order to prepare and speed up the large-scale deployment of fleets of level 4 autonomous vehicles over the whole of the Arabian Peninsula.

It will support Saudi Arabia, which is already a smart cities pioneer, to become one of the first markets in the world to deploy large shuttle fleets on its territory.

The carbon-free, shared fleets will play an essential role in the building of cities of the future, providing clean air and a better quality of life, in accordance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030".

Navya's share of the autonomous mobility market for people already stands at 75% in the GCC countries, including 6 shuttles in operation in Saudi Arabia. This strongly contributes to the company’s global leadership position with 200 shuttles sold across the world.

The final agreement, together with the support provided by Saudi Arabia, will enable Navya to take its research and development to a higher level with the development of new first and last mile use cases in town centers, smart cities, airports, theme parks and industrial sites.

Djebbari stated: “Navya is a pioneer in autonomous electrical road shuttles, bringing sustainable and high quality services to people and communities all over the world. Autonomous mobility is beginning to scale and will be a game changer in public transportation, with more services, comfort and safety for smart cities and less dense areas. I am particularly enthusiastic about the reinforced collaboration between Navya and the Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services of Saudi Arabia, and look forward to seeing the concrete projects that will result from this agreement.”

Dr Mansour Alturki, Deputy Minister of Planning & Information, commented: “Signing the MoU represents another testimony to the depth of the Saudi-French collaboration in the Transport and logistics sector. The Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services has a commitment to enable the adoption of new mobility and technologies across all modes, as part the Sector National Strategy to be a futuristic sector and a model of seamless mobility. Such a collaboration with Navya, will allow for leading companies to support Saudi in ensuring the right and timely regulatory frame works are in place to allow for wide-scale adoption in the future and early piloting of autonomous and connected transportation across the kingdom. Which will be essential to drive investments in the Saudi Transport and Logistics sector in new technologies, and improve the quality of the mobility in Saudi cities.”

Desormière said: "We look forward to the start of a fruitful collaboration with Saudi Arabia to speed up the deployment of new fleets for people and goods and to contribute to the building of an autonomous and shared future. Ecological and connected transportation will not only advance mobility, but also benefit the whole community. The agreement will bring us closer to achieving our vision of the mobility of the future on a large scale."