---
title: "Ridecell Launches Low-Speed Autonomous Shuttle System"
description: "The company plans to market autonomous shuttles for use on private property."
date: "2017-10-09"
modified: "2019-07-16"
authors:
  - name: "Stephen Edelstein"
    job_title: "Weekend Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/stephen-edelstein"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/tech/14940/ridecell-launches-low-speed-autonomous-shuttle-system"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "News"
  - "Self-Driving Tech"
tags:
  - "Autonomous Cars"
  - "fleet vehicles"
  - "Ridecell"
  - "self-driving cars"
  - "Tech"
---

# Ridecell Launches Low-Speed Autonomous Shuttle System

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/10/c6-tikmu8aacuj3-large.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Ridecell markets a software platform for car-sharing and ride-sharing services, and now the company plans to offer a similar pre-packaged solution for autonomous driving. However, instead of self-driving cars, the company will focus on low-speed vehicles used on private property.

The move is a result of Ridecell's acquisition of Auro Robotics, a company that specializes in adding autonomous-driving capability to small vehicles. By combining its own software expertise and Auro's autonomous-driving tech, Ridecell plans to market autonomous shuttle services for use on large expanses of private property, like theme parks, [retirement communities](<https://www.epconcommunities.com/retire-in-ohio/>), and corporate or college campuses.

Ridecell will not build its own vehicles, but rather will outfit vehicles from existing OEMs with self-driving capability. Even before its outright acquisition of Auro, the two companies tested this with pilot programs. Auro-augmented shuttles are in daily operation at the Santa Clara University campus in California, and have already carried "thousands" of riders, according to a Ridecell press release.

Low-speed private roads may not seem like a particularly challenging proving ground for a new technology, but Ridecell believes they are the best fit for autonomous vehicles, given the state of the technology today. This is not just a demonstration or pilot program: Ridecell is pitching low-speed autonomous shuttles as a commercially viable transportation option.

If the vehicles are automated, Ridecell reasons that the systems that manage them should be automated, as well. Alongside its acquisition of Auro, Ridecell announced a new "autonomous operations platform" that can send autonomous vehicles back to a garage for routine maintenance, deploy support vehicles to address any problems in the field, and manage who can enter a vehicle.

It makes sense to automate these support tasks, but the added efficiency could come at the cost of jobs. Autonomous vehicles are already expected to eliminate a large number [of professional driving jobs](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/11073/heres-why-intel-thinks-self-driving-cars-will-be-a-7-trillion-business>). Limiting the number of human beings needed to manage fleets could reduce jobs even further.

## Author
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he's not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/SAEdelstein>)