ZF is expanding its relationship with Oceaneering International, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas. The agreement combines Oceaneering’s engineering, manufacturing, and integration expertise with ZF’s know-how in developing the building functions needed to advance autonomous driving. The agreement aims to deliver a four-digit number of ZF’s shuttles to customers in the coming years.

ZF has expanded a strategic agreement with Oceaneering to serve the shuttle market for segregated lanes. As part of this partnership, Oceaneering will receive the license for the production and exclusive sales rights of ZF’s Group Rapid Transport (GRT) shuttle, which is primarily designed for use on segregated lanes.

With more than 100 million autonomously driven kilometers in real traffic, more than 14 million passengers transported and an uptime performance of more than 99%, it is considered the world’s most experienced autonomous transport system. The 3rd generation of the GRT has been implemented in Rivium and set in operation with unconditional release since 2022.

Oceaneering has been working with 2getthere, a ZF company, for more than 30 years, collaborating in design, development, and advancement of automated shuttle systems serving entertainment venues worldwide. With Oceaneering, ZF’s subsidiary 2getthere has had a partner on hand, innovating in the field of guest transportation for theme parks and helping to enhance the visitor experience. Now, ZF and Oceaneering are expanding their current relationship, starting to bring autonomous shuttles to the US market.

Oceaneering will serve enterprises, cities and municipalities seeking to enhance their mobility ecosystem and efficiently move people and goods through autonomous transport and the partners are already working on several potential business opportunities in the fields of airports and theme parks.

ZF presented its new Level 4 autonomous shuttle for the first time at the beginning of 2023. The new model is equipped with sensor technology consisting of lidar, radar, camera and audio systems that guarantee precise environment recognition. In addition, there is further technology such as the ZF ProConnect connectivity platform, which enables communication with the traffic infrastructure and the cloud, as well as the ZF ProAI supercomputer, in which the data converges in the vehicle.

The Virtual Driver—ZF’s AD software—processes these expansive volumes of information, uses artificial intelligence to derive safe driving strategies and passes them on as input to the on-board actuators. All ZF components and systems are automotive-grade certified.

With selectable battery capacities between 50 and 100 kWh, the next generation shuttle can cover up to 130 kilometers at a maximum speed of initially up to 40 km/h, in the further development of up to 80 km/h. The shuttle can accommodate a total of 22 people with up to 15 seats.