Navya will establish its first assembly plant outside Europe in South East Michigan and plans to hire a team of 15 people at the facility by the end of 2017.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is currently considering providing an unspecified incentive in support of the project.
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Starting last year, the French company partnered with Mcity, a public-private partnership led by the University of Michigan to accelerate advanced mobility vehicles and technologies, to bring the Navya ARMA, a 100% driverless, completely electric, autonomous shuttle vehicle to Mcity.
Due to the partnership with the university, Navya has decided to manufacture its vehicles in the Ann Arbor area and the company has an immediate objective to build 20 at the new plant by the end of this year.
“Thanks to our strong partnerships with Ann Arbor Spark, the University of Michigan and the State of Michigan, we decided to choose the Ann Arbor area to establish our US headquarters,” said Navya VP sales, Henri Coron.
“The Ann Arbor area offers a lot of possibilities for Navya to work with our suppliers and hire high-level professionals.”
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By GlobalDataMichigan has been making strides in implementing autonomous vehicles on its roads, with Govenor Rick Snyder signing legislation allowing driverless vehicles to be tested in the State.
In December 2016, the ARMA was introduced to North America at Mcity’s proving ground for connected and automated vehicles.
Since then, the shuttle has been used to support research and to demonstrate automated vehicle technology at the test facility, with Navya becoming an affiliate member of Mcity.
