Lightning eMotors, Inc. and STEER Tech announced a collaboration to offer autonomous functionality to Lightning's customers to enhance safety and efficiency. The collaboration will facilitate the integration of STEER's autonomous vehicle technology into Lightning's medium-duty commercial electric vehicle product line. STEER's patented autonomous vehicle technology can add safety functionality currently unavailable in most medium-duty commercial EVs, such as collision avoidance and autonomous vehicle movement, and could be used in a variety of use cases including campus employee and student transportation and distribution center cargo movement.

The collaboration will facilitate the integration of STEER's autonomous vehicle technology into Lightning's medium-duty commercial electric vehicle product line. STEER's patented autonomous vehicle technology can add safety functionality currently unavailable in most medium-duty commercial EVs, such as collision avoidance and autonomous vehicle movement, and could be used in a variety of use cases including campus employee and student transportation and distribution center cargo movement. STEER Tech's technology is a full-service platform that provides a wide array of turn-key, autonomous driving solutions in both advanced driver assistance and driverless packages.

It uses a robust sensor suite coupled with high-precision GPS and stereoscopic camera vision to safely navigate vehicles within geofenced areas. STEER-enabled vehicles can be either remotely controlled from a singular central command or launched on a singular basis - providing maximum flexibility while increasing operational efficiency and automating last-mile functions such as semi-automatic charging, parking, and loading. The AV platform includes a dashboard for vehicle analytics which includes comprehensive vehicle health monitoring and automatic triggers.

For example, fleet operators can set customized battery thresholds that, when hit, activate the specific vehicle to autonomously drive to the charger to be recharged. Automated functions such as this create an always-ready fleet.