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They tried the autonomous ZOE Cab. Here is what they have to say!

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A car whose steering wheel turns by itself, a passenger who processes his e-mails comfortably before arriving at his first meeting of the day while another enjoys a quiet moment in a musical bubble…nThis is not a futuristic vision, but an experimentation of autonomous vehicle in a real-life situation!

For Groupe Renault, tomorrow’s mobility will be electric, connected, autonomous and shared. With this vision in mind, Groupe Renault has set up experiments, among which Rouen Normandy Autonomous Lab and Paris-Saclay Autonomous Lab.

Inaugurated in May 2019, the Paris-Saclay Autonomous Lab project offers an on-demand car service provided by electric, autonomous and shared vehicles on the Paris-Saclay urban campus.

Several people were able to try the service for a month and they share their experience.

The public trial of the on-demand electric, autonomous and shared ZOE Cab service took place from October 14th to November 8th, 2019 with around 100 people living, studying or working on the Paris-Saclay campus.

 “I want more!”

The curiosity was naturally the primary motivation for people to take part of the experiment. But the interviewees shared that they were very impressed to see the steering wheel "turning by itself" during their first trip in an autonomous ZOE Cab, while feeling safe.

 “We truly feel safe and rapidly get used to the system.”

During the following rides, this feeling of curiosity settled down to give way to a real moment of relaxation. The service’s users were able to use their newfound free time to discover the musical ambiances the car offers, or to talk with the other passengers, without worrying about the road.

The interviewees all expressed their enthusiasm for this type of service, with some of them even wish to see it extended beyond the Paris-Saclay urban campus.

 “I believe in it wholeheartedly. I believe in it even beyond experiments in an environment like the Paris-Saclay campus.”

The service operated from Monday to Friday between 11am and 6pm.

  • Thanks to a dedicated “Marcel Saclay” smartphone app, the panelists could call a ZOE Cab in real-time or book one in advance. The users indicated their position, destination and how many passengers they were booking for, because the ZOE Cab could stop on the way to pick up other passengers.
  • During the journey, passengers could access shared or individual touchscreens, depending on the ZOE Cab model, allowing them to access services including:
    • ETA and real-time trip display
    • Notification of additional passengers – as the case may be
    • Temperature settings
    • Touch screen brightness controls
    • Music

 Groupe Renault, the Transdev Group, IRT SystemX, VEDECOM and the University of Paris-Saclay initiated the Paris-Saclay Autonomous Lab project. It was launched under the acronym EVAPS (Eco-mobilité par Véhicules Autonomes sur le territoire de Paris-Saclay – autonomous vehicle eco-mobility in the Paris-Saclay area) with support from the French government's Investments for the Future program (PIA) entrusted to ADEME (French environment and energy management agency); the Établissement Public d’Aménagement Paris-Saclay (Paris-Saclay urban development agency); the Paris-Saclay urban community; the Essonne Department; and Ile-de-France Mobilités.

The Paris-Saclay Autonomous Lab project provides for a daytime on-demand car service using electric and autonomous Renault ZOE Cab, and a night collective transportation service using an autonomous Transdev-Lohr i-Cristal shuttle.

The objective of this experiment is to define the conditions for the deployment of an autonomous mobility service on a larger scale.

Two main components are being evaluated on this project: the technical aspects, with the implementation of autonomous transportation system integrating two complementary services, and the acceptability with the public trial enabling to evaluate the adoption of the service by end-users.

These experiments are essential for the development of the mobility of tomorrow that Groupe Renault is preparing, namely electric, connected, autonomous and strongly shared mobility solutions.