Oxa takes a stab at Tesla with self-driving E-Transit vans

Oxa, a British autonomous driving tech firm, has unveiled its autonomous Ford E-Transit Van and Minibus. They will enter operation in the UK and US as the first mass-production vehicles to make use of Oxa’s software. Enough for one of the company’s VP’s to take a stab at Tesla, which unveiled its Robovan concept in October.

“Great to see Tesla’s Robotaxi unveiled, including the Robovan. But why wait? At Oxa you can have our selfdriving FORD eTransit today for both passenger and goods”, says Paul Reynolds on LinkedIn, VP Director Strategic Partnerships & Universal Vehicle Autonomy at Oxa. And indeed, where Tesla has a concept of an autonomous people-mover, Oxa has real vehicles on the road.

“Operational”, but still limited

While Oxa’s technology is ready to implement in commercial vehicle fleets with little to no impact on interior space, this doesn’t mean companies can implement them yet as autonomous shuttles. They will still need regulatory approval, and the vans are limited to 35 mph for now in mixed traffic situations.

Up until now, Oxa has its technology running in Beep shuttles as part of a trial in Florida since February this year.

But Oxa’s point remains: where Tesla still needs to further develop its Robovan into a production-ready vehicle, Oxa’s E-Transit is ready now, with the choice between a cargo van or a 10-seat shuttle and a range of up to around 400 km thanks to a new, larger 89 kWh battery pack.

“Making the Ford E-Transit available for autonomous operations is the next step on our journey to deliver safe, scalable, and sustainable autonomous solutions,” explains Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxa. “This vehicle represents an important milestone in our mission to reshape the future of passenger transportation and logistics.” Now, the next step seems to be finding customers…