An autonomous shuttle to save the small railway lines?

My car shuttle and rail wagon, Milla’s rail-road shuttle receives support from SNCF for initial trips in 2024.

In France, the TGV has captured attention and funding since the 1980s for railway development. However, at the same time, small lines have continued to disappear. The comparison is even stronger with a century ago, when the country had a network of 70,000 km, compared to less than 30,000 km today.

How to connect small towns and villages for people dependent on road networks, but without resources for vehicle purchases despite subsidies, increasingly expensive fuel, or public transportation?

An autonomous shuttle serving rail transportation

An initiative, that of Milla, is underway (or rather in motion) to fill the gap. SNCF, Michelin, and Railenium have chosen this French mobility company to design a rail-road shuttle.

The Milla Flexy was originally an autonomous road shuttle. It functions as a minibus but can quickly adapt to rails and transform into a rail shuttle. ” Our future rail-road shuttle FLEXY is a disruptive mobility solution that is 100% electric,” affirms David BOROT, Director of Tech4Mobility.

This vehicle will be capable “of traveling on both small rail lines and small roads to connect rural communities with each other, and facilitate their access to stations and trains.” Tech4Mobility is a SNCF program leading the “very light train” project, where the Milla Flexy would be a “less capacitive and complementary solution to the regional trains (TER) and the future lightweight train.”

Exhibited at the European Rail Summit, the Milla Flexy will not operate before 2024, and the company has provided no possible launch date.

Milla, a small autonomous vehicle soon to become big?

Beyond the Flexy presented this week, Milla already has some experience in autonomous shuttles. Its Milla POD can carry 6 passengers and can operate at speeds up to 30 km/h.

Using among other things geolocation, AI, and an array of sensors (Lidar, 3 radars, cameras), the shuttle operates without human intervention. Several experiments have already started in France, and Milla aims to expand to other European countries as well as North America.

The French SME is also considering two other vehicles, a 22-passenger minibus and a Milla Delivery for freight transportation on rail.

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