Thanks to New Funding, May Mobility Gets More Traction in the Autonomous Vehicle Segment

The race for the autonomous level 5 is on, and most carmakers are using all their resources to be there first. While Tesla relies on cameras only, other manufacturers placed their bets on LiDAR systems, such as the one developed by May Mobility. The American company from Ann Arbor already inked a deal with Toyota, and it uses the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform to test and enhance the autonomous driving system.

But, of course, one of the most challenging problems in developing a self-driving vehicle was funding. On July 12, May Mobility announced that it closed a $111 million funding process after State Farm Venture participated in the Series C round. It is one of the first U.S.-based insurers that invest in autonomous vehicle technology, and it considers that the evolution in this sector will lead to fewer road accidents.

Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS's platform was modified and adapted by May Mobility to test its autonomous driving systems in Ann Arbor, and it has already proved to be a perfect match. Moreover, the American company has begun incorporating its technology into Toyota's e-Pallete battery-electric vehicle platform. This means that future vehicles from that range will be prepared to meet advanced driving systems.

May Mobility relies on a Multi-Policy Decision Making system that calculates and anticipates various scenarios from traffic situations. Thus, it can overcome unexpected situations, as you can see in the video below. By now, vehicles fitted with their system already covered more than 320,000 autonomy-enabled rides in the U.S. and Japan in several public transit applications. Moreover, thanks to a total of $194 million in funds, the American company can further invest in technology advancements.