Episode 7: All Aboard the Autonomous Shuttle! Feat. Navya CEO Pierre LaHutte

11/17/21 • 45 min

GUESTS: Pierre LaHutte , Navya and Andrew Grant, BloombergNEF

About this episode

Fully autonomous and electric pods that seat up to 12 or 15 people are just about the perfect embodiment of a driverless future first imagined many decades ago.

But they’re already here, and in use.

With a design that puts function over form, these highly configurable and versatile vehicles will play a key role in the race to zero emission urban mobility.

Running initially on fixed routes in small locations, and on campuses and at airports, autonomous shuttles present an opportunity to replace large under-used diesel buses with an efficient, zero emission alternative.

This episode is all about the role of autonomous shuttles in the future of urban mobility, and to help us understand the evolution of these vehicles, we’re joined by Pierre LaHutte, Chief Executive of autonomous shuttle maker Navya, and Andrew Grant, Head of Intelligent Mobility at BloombergNEF.

About the guests

Pierre LaHutte is the CEO of Navya. Until January 2019, he was at Iveco, where he served as Iveco Brand President and CNH Industrial Group Executive Council member. Pierre also sits on the board of Forsee Power, FRIEM and Groupe BERTO.

Connect with Pierre on LinkedIn

Andrew Grant is an expert on future and next-generation mobility, and currently heads up Intelligent Mobility at BloombergNEF.

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn

You can subscribe to Ride: The Urban Mobility Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Feel free to share it, like it, give it a rating, sign up to the Ride LinkedIn page, and check out our website, ridemobilitypodcast.com.

GUESTS: Pierre LaHutte , Navya and Andrew Grant, BloombergNEF

About this episode

Fully autonomous and electric pods that seat up to 12 or 15 people are just about the perfect embodiment of a driverless future first imagined many decades ago.

But they’re already here, and in use.

With a design that puts function over form, these highly configurable and versatile vehicles will play a key role in the race to zero emission urban mobility.

About the guests

Connect with Pierre on LinkedIn

Andrew Grant is an expert on future and next-generation mobility, and currently heads up Intelligent Mobility at BloombergNEF.

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn

Previous Episode

Episode 6: What’s the Role of the Automaker in the Future of Mobility?

GUESTS: Carla Bailo - Center for Automotive Research (CAR); Joost Vantomme, European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), and Sam Fiorani - AutoForecast Solutions

About this episode

In our trailer for this podcast series, we used the now-famous quote by Mary Barra, Chief Executive of General Motors, who said the auto industry would change more over the next 5-10 years than it had in the previous 50.

Mobility is changing, too, thanks to the rapid rise in cities around the world of micromobility solutions such as shared e-bikes and e-scooters, autonomous microshuttles, ride-hailing and ride-sharing, mobility as a service solutions, and of course, a reduction in travel in the face of the workplace evolution.

So where does that leave the automaker? It’s a simple question, but there’s no simple answer. Nevertheless, we’re confident our three guests will be able to shed some light.

About the guests

Carla Bailo is the Chief Executive of the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR)

Connect with Carla on LinkedIn

Joost Vantomme is Director, Smart Mobility at the Brussels-headquartered European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA)

Join Joost on LinkedIn

Sam Fiorani is Vice President, Global Vehicle Forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions

Find Sam on LinkedIn

Next Episode

Episode 8: Andy Palmer and the Net Zero Heroes

GUEST: Andy Palmer, Switch Mobility

About the show

Having spent 42 years in the business of developing, making, and selling vehicles, Andy Palmer is a titan of the auto industry. During his 42 year career, he rose to almost the very top of the Nissan C-suite, where he introduced a raft of vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf EV and the e-NV200 electric taxi. He subsequently spent six years as the CEO of Aston Martin, where he campaigned for the Rapide E high-performance EV, and is now the CEO of electric bus maker Switch Mobility.

Andy Palmer is a long-standing advocate of clean zero emission mobility. But more than that, he’s a proponent of net carbon zero. And that’s the focus of this episode: it’s not enough to produce zero emission vehicles—to make an impact, he says, you have to be a net zero hero, and that means your vehicles have to be net carbon zero. To achieve what used to be called “well-to-wheel” requires a new way of thinking about everything from design, development, and manufacturing, to marketing, sales, and business model.