This is the HOLON mover, it’s a fully electric, autonomous vehicle that’s about to hit the streets of Hamburg, Germany.
HOLON, the new autonomous brand of Germany’s Benteler Group, has labelled this thing as an “inclusive mover”, touting it as a “leader in safety, ride comfort and production quality”. The company reckons it’s the answer to traffic problems major cities experience, but we reckon it’s just so gosh darn adorable.
The HOLON mover operates autonomously with a maximum speed of 60 km/h, and it has a range of about 290 kilometres.
Although this friend is so small, it can fit up to 15 passengers. I’m not sure how squishy of a trip it would be, but it’ll get you there.
While tech like this is usually unveiled at places like CES purely as a concept, the HOLON mover is actually making its debut with German mass transit company based out of Hamburg, Hochbahn.
HOLON has worked with various partners on the mover, including Italian design company Pininfarina, mobility provider Beep and Mobileye, which is a company owned by Intel.
Mobileye is developing the self-driving system for the autonomous mover, Beep is adding technologies and services for the deployment and operating systems of a mobility service. Beep will also be helping the HOLON mover enter the U.S. market (which is currently planned for 2025).
Pininfarina did all the design work. Pininfarina has a long history in the auto design space, having worked with Lancia, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Cisitalia and, most notably, Ferrari. Its first car with them was the Ferrari 212 Inter cabriolet and coupe, which is also shaped like a friend. My research sent me to all kinds of places, and there seems to be a very good reason as to why Pininfarina is now designing autonomous mini shuttle buses instead of Ferraris, but I digress.
“The vehicle design combines two character traits – friendly and inviting as well as technologically advanced and clear,” Pininfarina CEO Silvio Pietro Angori said of the HOLON mover. “Every detail of the vehicle is designed to make passengers feel more comfortable and safer than in any other mode of transportation.”
The vehicle has electric double-wing doors with photo-electric sensors and an automatically extending ramp with a lowering function. Making good on its claim to be all-inclusive, the HOLON mover also has automatic securing of wheelchairs inside the vehicle, has information in Braille within the cabin, as well as an audio-visual guide.
With its speed capped at 60 km/h, it’s probably safe to assume the applications for the HOLON will be more of a shuttle on a university campus or airport.
No word on when, or even if, the HOLON mover will make its way to Australia, but the company said it has plans to add additional production capacity in Europe and the Middle East/Asia in the following years.