Perrone Robotics
Zero-emissions fully autonomous public transit van using Perrone Robotics technology. Credit: CapStone Holdings, Inc.

Fully autonomous vehicle systems provider Perrone Robotics has secured an investment of $10m from CapStone Holdings.

A portion of the investment will be used by Perrone Robotics for establishing an advanced autonomous vehicle testing facility at the American Center for Mobility (ACM) in southeast Michigan.

Perrone Robotics founder and CEO Paul Perrone said: “CapStone Holdings’ investment allows us to scale and capture the extraordinary pipeline of opportunity and interest our technology has garnered over the past few years. Our general-purpose retrofit kit approach, proven in over 30 different vehicles to date and tailored for geographically fenced applications, has touched a nerve.

“Customers see real value in the Perrone Robotics path to deployable and production-grade autonomy in vehicles most suited for their operational environment. This investment, along with the opening of a test facility at ACM, will bring a hardened and proven commercial product fully to market.”

ACM is a collective effort of government, industry and academic organisations, and focuses on fast-tracking the mobility industry through testing, research, standards development and educational programming.

It features a wide range of real-world environments, including a 2.5-mile highway loop, a 700ft curved tunnel, two double overpasses, intersections and roundabouts.

The ACM facility will be used for testing autonomous transit vans, shuttles, and other vehicles equipped with Perrone’s TONY product.

TONY is Perrone’s general-purpose robotics operating system and autonomous vehicle retrofit kit, which embeds inside any vehicle to provide a complete ‘artificial driver’ solution.

Perrone claims that its solution helps commercial and governmental agencies to enhance transportation efficiencies and safety, as well as accelerate zero-emission electric vehicle deployment.

CapStone’s investment in Perrone Robotics is said to be in line with its ongoing strategic investments in proven enterprises well-positioned for substantial growth.

CapStone Holdings official Keith J Stone said: “With our 25 years in global fleet management technology, we are very excited to offer our full backing and support for Paul and his proven team at Perrone Robotics.

“We see the company as the clear leader now separating themselves in the autonomous mobility space. They continue to demonstrate incredible speed from concept to actual integration.”