18 March 2019
The Integral Group Announces Partnership with NAVYA
Leading autonomous vehicle company selected as shuttle provider for Assembly in Doraville
ATLANTA (March 18, 2019) – The Integral Group announced today it has selected NAVYA as its preferred autonomous vehicle partner at Assembly in Doraville. This first-to-market concept will enhance the overall accessibility of the site, connecting the mixed-use destination with the adjacent Doraville MARTA Station as well as the nearby Chamblee MARTA station.
“At Assembly, we have hallmarked accessibility and connectivity by providing multiple transit options that will accommodate and serve a variety of users,” said Matt Samuelson, COO of the commercial real estate division of The Integral Group. “Through the NAVYA autonomous shuttles and other driverless-site features, we intend to set a new, responsible standard for transit-oriented developments.”
Assembly’s U.S. manufactured driverless clean energy NAVYA vehicle carries 15 people and will follow a route from Assembly Yards to the Doraville MARTA Station on scheduled 15-minute intervals and on-demand. The shuttle delivers this Spring and will be first autonomous shuttle in the region, as well as the first autonomous shuttle in a transit-oriented mixed-use development.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Assembly to mark this important milestone in the future of urban transportation and become the first autonomous shuttle in service in the Atlanta region. We view this as an opportunity to deliver safer transportation through highly engineered, intelligent vehicles with the NAVYA AUTONOM SHUTTLE. Our smart AVs give people their autonomy back by allowing them to use travel time more productively, while also reducing emissions via our electric powered vehicles. In turn, transportation will ultimately be not just safer, but smarter, and more fluid with AVs as part of the transportation matrix,” says NAVYA COO Jérôme Rigaud.
Established in 2014, NAVYA, which employs a team of more than 250 engineers, designers and automotive technology experts in both France and the U.S., is dedicated to sustainably transforming the way we live and work by reinventing urban mobility. According to research performed by the company, traffic jams increase globally by 6 percent each quarter, costing an estimated $340 billion annually.
“We are so proud to forge this new mode of transportation at the region’s largest transitoriented development,” said Eric Pinckney, Chairman of Assembly CID. “The CID was formed to serve as a tool for creating a sustainable and progressive infrastructure to ensure the entire site stayed connected, and this shuttle is a significant milestone in this effort.”
In 2016, NAVYA forged a partnership with the University of Michigan’s Mobility Transformation Center in the area of driverless technologies and delivered two autonomous shuttles the following year which carried passengers around the university campus during working hours. Several trials were also deployed at the end of 2017, including the launch of the nation’s first driverless shuttle for public use in Las Vegas.
“I have always been not only a major supporter, but also a pioneer in transportation options,” said Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman. “I was on the first MARTA train to leave the Doraville station, and I’m thrilled to come full circle and be in the launch of Assembly’s autonomous shuttle.”
The Integral Group acquired the former General Motors plant site in 2014 and has since set the foundation for the Assembly development. Over the past four years, Integral has demolished 90 acres (over 3.5M sf) of vacant buildings; entitled over 10 million square feet of development; recruited Serta Simmons Bedding to relocate its headquarters to Assembly; adaptively re-used and transformed a former plant building into a unique film and production studio that has been booked since opening in 2016; and installed $53M of development enabling infrastructure, greenspace and park space, including over 2 miles of Assembly Line Park.
Upon completion, the multi-phased development will include more than 10 million square feet of corporate class A office, multifamily housing, creative office space, chef-driven dining, bestin-class retail, and entertainment, including the purpose-built film studio Third Rail Studios which was completed in the first phase. The new 250,000-square-foot Serta Simmons Bedding headquarters will open in March while an additional 1.3 million square feet of space is anticipated to deliver over the next 22 months.
For more information about Assembly, visit assemblyyards.com or follow the mixed-use destination on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About The Integral Group
Integral was founded by Egbert Perry in 1993. It is a private, community development and commercial real estate firm, with its headquarters in Atlanta and satellite offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Dallas. Integral’s mission is to create value in cities and (re)build the fabric of communities. Integral is currently developing Assembly Yards, a mixeduse community in Doraville, Ga. that will encompass best-in-class retail, chef-driven dining, entertainment, creative office space, multifamily housing, and a collection of innovative companies that support the film and television production industry. Third Rail Studios, a fullservice production facility, was developed in the first phase of the development.