launcht Optimus Ride, a self driving venture from Boston has received the green signal to carry out its operations in the city. The company will use its autonomous vehicles, only to carry passengers in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in South Boston, where Optimus is based. Ryan Chin, chief executive officer of Optimus Ride, says that a software company called Autodesk has agreed to take part in the rides.
Discussions have also been tabled with other Marine Park-based companies about giving them rides and getting valuable feedback. Eventually, the long term vision is to use these vehicles to help employees of Seaport companies get to work. Chin says that Optimus is not committing to any specific service, but adds that it “seems clear autonomous shuttles could help the Seaport’s transportation issues.”
We want to treat the Seaport, Ray Flynn area as our experimental playground, to test the technology, engage with users, and eventually some sort of commercial opportunity…
– Ryan Chin, CEO Optimus Ride
By receiving approval to carry passengers in its autonomous vehicles, Optimus joins nuTonomy as the only other company in Boston to have such a distinction. Last year, nuTonomy began giving rides to Lyft customers using autonomous vehicles.
