Udacity spin-off OK’d to test robotaxis beyond San Jose retirement village

Voyage Auto Inc., the self-driving vehicle startup that spun out of Udacity in 2017, can now give people rides in its self-driving vehicles beyond the San Jose retirement village where it’s been operating for more than a year.

The Palo Alto startup on Monday won a permit to take passengers onto California roads in its autonomous vehicles. It joins Aurora Innovation, AutoX Technologies, Cruise Automation, Pony.ai, Zoox and Alphabet unit Waymo unit, which are also permitted to offer rides on the state’s roads.

Voyage has been operating converted Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans, dubbed G2, in senior villages in California and Florida for more than a year with safety drivers aboard. These were allowed because they were operating on private roads, though service at The Villages in San Jose has been temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.

Part of the reason for getting the permit, though, is because residents in the San Jose community requested rides beyond its borders.

“We want to bring people to all the things that live outside The Villages, facilities like hospitals and grocery stores,” Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron told TechCrunch.

Voyage’s vehicles operate within well-known terrain, traveling point-to-point at speeds up to 25 mph.

The new Series B round was led by Franklin Templeton. It was joined by Khosla Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures, bringing Voyage’s total raised to date up to $52 million.

Before the coronavirus service suspension, Voyage had started charging for rides in San Jose, but it isn’t allowed to do that on public roads under the state permit.

The company has also applied for a transportation charter permit, which is required for limousine, bus and other third-party charter services.

Voyage has raised a total of about $51 million in funding from investors who include Franklin Templeton Investments, InMotion Ventures, MS&AD Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

Source: www.bizjournals.com