Sacramento, Calif. — At the Green Sports Alliance Summit at Golden 1 Center, the Sacramento Kings hosted an autonomous vehicle showcase featuring next-generation technology. Industry leaders Audi, EasyMile, Renovo and Uber joined the showcase to demonstrate how autonomous vehicle innovations can transform the fan experience, remove additional transportation barriers, and provide a safer, smarter and environmentally-conscious option for fans and partners.
Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé will address hundreds of sports executives and environmental leaders during a keynote speech on how technology and innovation can drive monumental environmental change. Throughout the Green Sports Alliance Summit, attendees will learn about the best eco-friendly practices from their colleagues, explore the groundbreaking green innovations at Golden 1 Center – the world’s most sustainable arena – and discuss ways sports teams can continue to serve as environmental leaders.
“In Sacramento, our goal is to create the autonomous vehicle reference architecture for the world. As home to the most technologically advanced and sustainable arena, Sacramento is primed to serve as the autonomous vehicle capital,” said Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé. “By showcasing these technologies, we hope to educate and inform sports, business and community leaders about innovative new ways of enhancing the guest experience, while being mindful about the planet and its resources.”
Earlier this year, Vivek Ranadivé, U.S. Congresswoman Doris Matsui, and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg presented a vision for the region to serve as an innovation lab for autonomous vehicles. Autonomous Transportation Open Standards Lab (ATOS), a public- private partnership, brings Silicon Valley, automotive, and local business leaders, as well as policy experts and transportation agencies together and create a safe platform to bring driverless vehicles to Sacramento’s street and around the world.
“At Audi, it’s our goal to work hand-in-hand with regulators, industry partners and consumers to clearly communicate the capabilities of current and future technology,” said Brad Stertz, director of government affairs at Audi of America. “If we want to realize the full economic, safety and societal benefits of automated vehicles, we need to bring everyone along in this transformation by building awareness whenever and wherever possible.”
“Renovo is committed to bringing automated mobility on demand (AMoD) to scale safely and quickly” said Christopher Heiser, Co-founder & CEO of Renovo.auto. “ATOS’ approach of encouraging open standards and interoperability is something we share and support. We believe Sacramento is well positioned to realize its vision to become a leading global reference architecture for automated vehicle deployments. We are delighted to show our support for ATOS today by showcasing one of our automated vehicles which we hope will be operating on the streets of Sacramento soon.”
The showcase featured the latest in autonomous technology from:
- Audi; the A7 piloted driving prototype – This Audi research car, nicknamed “Jack” demonstrates Audi commitment to leading in the automated driving field. It features “highway pilot” functionality that enables hands-free driving at posted Interstate speeds. Expected availability: 2020-2021.
- EasyMile and Transdev; Together, these companies are presenting the EZ10, a 12-person driverless, 100% electric shuttle. This shuttle is a smart mobility solution that provides fixed route or door-to-door services within a specific road network.
- Renovo; a mobility technology company that provides a scalable platform which merges self-driving software, data analytics and automotive-grade safety systems into a unified high-performance solution. Renovo-enabled vehicles command hundreds of sensors generating multiple terabytes of data—each hour—on a safe, secure, and scalable platform developed in extremely demanding environments. Renovo works with a wide range of leading companies who share our mission to bring Autonomous Mobility on Demand (AMoD) to scale through interoperable best-in-class technology stacks. To this end Renovo is highly supportive of ATOS’s vision and is pleased to have a Renovo middleware based vehicle at the showcase.
- Uber; the ATG Self-Driving Truck Long-haul commercial trucks are responsible for delivering nearly 70% of goods in America, yet the highways they’re driving on see hundreds of thousands of preventable accidents each year. Uber ATG is committed to creating a new approach to modern transportation—and a large part of that effort is the development of self-driving technology to improve the safety and efficiency of the trucking industry.