Thought Leadership

Podcast: NAVYA’s Henri Coron on lessons learned from a half-decade of AV deployments

February 3, 2020 • 2 MIN READ
picture of self-driving Navya shuttle
By Ed Bernardon
https://player.acast.com/5b8f27f063486ec51f8f28e4/episodes/driving-around-the-globe-with-henri-coron?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1

Although autonomous vehicles are very publicly working through the boom-bust hype cycle, by now a small number of AV pioneers can point to multi-year track records with real-world deployments.  

To better understand the early trials, tribulations and triumphs of some of the very first AV deployments in the world, a few months back I sat down with Henri Coron. Henri is the Chief Development Officer of NAVYA, among the early AV pioneers. I first met him at the FIA Conference 2019 in South Africa. (For more our work with FIA, see this story.)

Based in France, NAVYA first deployed a self-driving shuttle back in 2015. Today, they’re working on an autonomous cab, and they have global deployments across four continents — North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In fact, they’ve signed up some new partners that are going to help them expand in Asia even more and recently have become the first autonomous vehicle company to be allowed to deploy a shuttle in Japan without any steering wheel or pedals. So these are quite substantial accomplishments for what is certainly a newsmaker in this business.

For more conversations like this, see the Future Car podcast on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

Connect with Eddie Bernardon your Host on LinkedIn

Connect with Henri Coron via LinkedIn

For more on automated driving and new mobility from Siemens, see solutions from Siemens Digital Industries Software and Siemens Mobility.

If you enjoy podcasts, you might also check out The Future of Traffic Flow with Eric Gannaway from Siemens ITS.

Edward Bernardon

Ed has over 25 years experience as an entrepreneur and executive in industries related to software, design, and automated manufacturing in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, and apparel. Primary roles have been as a sales and business development executive in early stage startups that have grown to become global in scope. Ed is currently Vice President of Strategic Automotive Initiatives at Siemens Specialized Engineering Software. In this role, he is responsible for strategic planning, business development, and making initial sales of new products to market leading companies. The primary focus of these efforts has been in the areas of design and manufacture of lightweight automotive structures and transportation interiors. Prior to Siemens, he was the third principal member and Vice President of Sales for VISTAGY that, without any outside funding, developed industry leading software for design and manufacturing of light-weight composite parts. Initially the sole sales person, he expanded sales to a global organization with direct and channel partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Ed was a key member of the executive team during the global expansion of VISTAGY and the transaction of Siemens acquisition in 2011. Prior to VISTAGY, Ed directed the Automation and Design Technology Group at the MIT Draper Laboratory, developing manufacturing processes, robotics, and complementary design software for composites, automotive and textile applications. Projects included design of a composite car body, FRTM and preform pick/place for composites fabrication, as well as robotic equipment for the manufacture of men’s suits, blue jeans, sweatpants and other apparel. Ed holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, and an MBA from Butler University. He also has numerous patents in the area of high volume automated composite manufacturing systems, robotics and laser technologies.

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/thought-leadership/interview-with-navyas-henri-coron/