Nicolas de Crémiers, Head of Marketing at NAVYA
Nicolas de Crémiers: "Autonomous vehicles are our chance to rethink transportation"
GoTo interviews smart mobility leaders so that we can learn from each other, share our news and industry concerns. NAVYA is a French company, leading the autonomous vehicle industry.
By Katya Rozenoer
Nicolas de Crémiers
Head of Marketing at NAVYA
Nicolas has been leading marketing efforts at NAVYA since 2016.
Launched in 2014, NAVYA is today a leading French name in the autonomous vehicle market and smart shared mobility solutions. The company develops, manufactures and commercializes autonomous, driverless, and electric vehicles. NAVYA has been the first company to market and put into service autonomous mobility solutions.
Linkedin
Launched in 2014, NAVYA is today a leading French name in the autonomous vehicle market and smart shared mobility solutions. The company develops, manufactures and commercializes autonomous, driverless, and electric vehicles. NAVYA has been the first company to market and put into service autonomous mobility solutions.
How do you usually commute?
I commute using public transportation and only when it's not possible or too complicated I take my car. However, I try to avoid using it, as I believe that privately-owned car is one of the major plagues of our cities. Our cars are the reason for pollution, congestion and lack of public spaces. Travelling by car is also a complete waste of time.
What excites you about the transportation industry today? What makes you say to a friend "you cannot imagine what is going on in my industry right now!"
We are living in a revolutionary time for the car industry. This revolution will impact our everyday life, improve the way we move and change the landscape of our cities. Autonomous, shared, and electric vehicles are our chance to rethink transportation and improve urban life.
What are the things that are broken in the industry now? Something you look at and say, "it should not be like that, here is how it should be."
It is projected that by 2050, 70% of the world's population will be living in cities, so we need to start preparing for that. The problem is that regulation is still not in place: despite the fact that as a society we are starting to accept the arrival of autonomous vehicles, proper regulations permitting vehicles to operate on the public roads are still not in place. This impedes the technological progress. It is critical to address that. The way to do it is through a close cooperation between local authorities and private sector and we are working on that a lot.
I commute using public transportation and only when it's not possible or too complicated I take my car. However, I try to avoid using it, as I believe that privately-owned car is one of the major plagues of our cities. Our cars are the reason for pollution, congestion and lack of public spaces. Travelling by car is also a complete waste of time.
What excites you about the transportation industry today? What makes you say to a friend "you cannot imagine what is going on in my industry right now!"
We are living in a revolutionary time for the car industry. This revolution will impact our everyday life, improve the way we move and change the landscape of our cities. Autonomous, shared, and electric vehicles are our chance to rethink transportation and improve urban life.
What are the things that are broken in the industry now? Something you look at and say, "it should not be like that, here is how it should be."
It is projected that by 2050, 70% of the world's population will be living in cities, so we need to start preparing for that. The problem is that regulation is still not in place: despite the fact that as a society we are starting to accept the arrival of autonomous vehicles, proper regulations permitting vehicles to operate on the public roads are still not in place. This impedes the technological progress. It is critical to address that. The way to do it is through a close cooperation between local authorities and private sector and we are working on that a lot.
We wanted to come up with a solution that would integrate into a multimodal urban transportation system and this is exactly what we did
What is the hardest challenge your company is tackling now?
We provide users with a very disruptive technology and alternative mobility solutions. Autonomous vehicles are still a new service that needs to be understood and accepted by consumers. I believe that one of the hardest challenges for us now is to meet highest possible quality of the service, so that consumers really like it and feel good about using it.
Five years ago, what was different about the transportation landscape from how it is now?
We started our company exactly five years ago. Back in 2014 all the market players were on a mission to create the most sophisticated autonomous car for individual use.
At NAVYA, we took a different path. We looked at cities largest pains and have identified three major ones - pollution, congestion and lack of space. This led us to direct our efforts towards building a solution for those pains. This is how our autonomous shuttles not for private, but for shared use were born. We wanted to come up with a solution that would integrate into a multimodal urban transportation system and this is exactly what we did.
We provide users with a very disruptive technology and alternative mobility solutions. Autonomous vehicles are still a new service that needs to be understood and accepted by consumers. I believe that one of the hardest challenges for us now is to meet highest possible quality of the service, so that consumers really like it and feel good about using it.
Five years ago, what was different about the transportation landscape from how it is now?
We started our company exactly five years ago. Back in 2014 all the market players were on a mission to create the most sophisticated autonomous car for individual use.
At NAVYA, we took a different path. We looked at cities largest pains and have identified three major ones - pollution, congestion and lack of space. This led us to direct our efforts towards building a solution for those pains. This is how our autonomous shuttles not for private, but for shared use were born. We wanted to come up with a solution that would integrate into a multimodal urban transportation system and this is exactly what we did.
Autonoms, a publication that NAVYA created last year together with a famous French futuristic magazine Usbek & Rica
Imagine 2024: you are in a middle of a city, looking around. What do you see?
People are using Mobility as a Service applications integrating all kinds of solutions: scooters, bicycles, and of course autonomous, electric and shared mobility services. I know this is something your company, GoTo works on as well, so our vision is aligned.
People are using Mobility as a Service applications integrating all kinds of solutions: scooters, bicycles, and of course autonomous, electric and shared mobility services. I know this is something your company, GoTo works on as well, so our vision is aligned.
What industry book would you recommend to those interested in transportation and mobility?
The first one is Autonoms, a publication that NAVYA created last year together with a famous French futuristic magazine Usbek & Rica. Autonoms talks about mobility in the year of 2048. I would also recommend reading "Navigant research leaderboard, automated driving vehicles", from March 2019.
The first one is Autonoms, a publication that NAVYA created last year together with a famous French futuristic magazine Usbek & Rica. Autonoms talks about mobility in the year of 2048. I would also recommend reading "Navigant research leaderboard, automated driving vehicles", from March 2019.
GoTo Mobility newsletter
Subscribe to receive our amazing monthly newsletter
By subscribing to the newsletter you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy