Arcimoto Inc. has unveiled the Faction D1, a next-generation driverless delivery vehicle based on the Arcimoto Platform. Equipped with Faction’s DriveLink and TeleAssist technologies, the completely driverless D1 combines autonomy with remote human teleoperation. The vehicle system retains the Deliverator’s capabilities of a 75 mph top speed and just over 100 miles of range while transporting up to 500 pounds of cargo.
“Scalable driverless vehicle systems require engineering from the chassis up, and by leveraging the revolutionary Arcimoto Platform, we’re able to develop our driverless system much faster than using legacy vehicle designs,” states Ain McKendrick, Faction’s CEO. “The end result will be a rightsized, ultra-efficient driverless delivery vehicle that reduces pollution and drives down costs for local and last-mile delivery fleets.”
The D1 features advanced sensors and safety systems and has a configurable cargo compartment that can be adapted for specialized payloads in addition to general fleet-on-demand use. With an anticipated commercial service cost of less than $2 per mile for driverless deliveries, the D1 will be extremely cost-competitive for various delivery use cases.
“We’ve been thrilled to work with the Faction team to support driverless development on the Arcimoto platform,” comments Mark Frohnmayer, Arcimoto’s founder and CEO. “With a common mission of deploying ultra-efficient electric vehicles at scale, the commercial launch of the driverless D1 will be a game-changer for last-mile logistics.”
Faction expects to begin pilot customer trials in 2022. Interested fleet customers can contact Faction about access to pre-production vehicles and services now, and make reservations for production models expected to be released in 2023.
