Self-driving vehicle startup Faction is partnering with GoCar Tours for driverless delivery of vehicles to customers, the companies announced October 10.
First launched in San Francisco in 2004, GoCar Tours aims to take customers to places few visitors get to see and go where tour buses can’t. Using GPS guided-tour technology for self-guided driving tours, GoCar escorts customers on sightseeing trips, recommends restaurants, cracks jokes and tells stories to help bring destinations to life.
The new partnership will help driverlessly deliver GoCar EV Sport vehicles from GoCar’s fleet depot locations to designated rental counters at partner locations, where customers can then drive them on trips in cities where GoCar operates. Pilot trials are expected to start in 2023.
“Leveraging Faction’s driverless technology to deploy vehicles allows GoCar to turn every hotel and tour partner in a city into a GoCar customer counter,” Alasdair Clements, co-founder of GoCar, said in a statement. “By bringing vehicles to where our customers are, we can expand our reach, making it easier for riders to enjoy a GoCar Tour experience.”
The vehicles are based on the “Fun Utility Vehicle” or FUV platform from Arcimoto, a two-seat, three-wheeled electric vehicle. In February, Faction and Arcimoto announced they were teaming up to develop a new autonomous delivery vehicle capable of driving up to 75 miles per hour.
Faction will equip the GoCar electric vehicles with its DriveLink and TeleAssist technologies, which combine autonomy with remote human teleoperation. The driverless vehicle platform retains the GoCar EV Sport capabilities with up to 100 miles of city range, and includes the patented GoCar Network technology and GoCar mobile tour guide.
“Enabling driverless electric vehicles for GoCar is an exciting application on multiple levels,” Faction CEO Ain McKendrick said in a statement. “Not only are we able to expand GoCar’s existing rental business, but the form factor of a light electric vehicle is a great alternative to an oversized vehicle for quick tours and trips around cities.”
“We have always envisioned our platform as the best, most efficient small form factor vehicle for moving goods and people,” Jesse Fittipaldi, interim CEO at Arcimoto, said in a statement. “Customers will experience the new possible that our technologies solve, the intersection of convenience, fun and efficiency.”
