May Mobility

Toyota and BMW-backed May Mobility develops self-driving technology pitched toward autonomous shuttle services for public transportation. Its proprietary multi-policy decision-making (MPDM) autonomous driving technology comes with a suite of sensors including LiDAR, radar, and cameras to create a 360-degree view of surroundings (third-generation system released in March 2023) . The technology can be integrated into multiple platforms such as buses or cars.

As of February 2024, May Mobility had active autonomous shuttle services deployed in cities in Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, and Arizona , with plans to enter California in early 2024. The company claimed to have completed 350,000+ autonomous rides as of October 2023 (includes now inactive deployments in geographies including Hiroshima [Japan] and Indiana). May Mobility was yet to commence commercial operations as of January 2024, and these rides were offered free of charge to customers, with costs being borne by partnering companies. The company began driverless operations in Arizona in December 2023.

However, in February 2024, May Mobility announced layoffs of roughly 13% of its workforce (about 40 employees), to focus on its main business objectives.

Key customers and partnerships

May Mobility has product development partnerships with companies as Toyota to retrofit its tech into Toyota’s vehicles (January 2022; announced plans to launch robotaxi services in Odaiba, Japan by mid 2024); Bridgestone Americas for tire technology (March 2022); and Aeva for LiDAR sensors (November 2023). The company also has partnerships with wheelchair-accessible van manufacturer BraunAbility to modify its fleet of Toyota Sienna vehicles to include wheelchair access (April 2022); SoftBank to obtain 5G network services for deployments in Japan (June 2022); Stantec, a design and engineering company, to develop autonomous micro-transit solutions (March 2023); mobility service provider, Moovit to integrate its urban mobility app and on-demand reservation and routing software (April 2023) ; and shared mobility solutions provider Liftango to create demand-responsive autonomous microtransit solutions (October 2023).

The company has partnered with cities and authorities (e.g., City of Detroit Office of Mobility Innovation, Arlington, Grand Rapids, The Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Contra Costa Transportation Authority ), universities (e.g., University of Texas, Arlington), transit tech companies (e.g., Via ), and nonprofits (e.g., Toyota Mobility Foundation, Energy Systems Network) for its active and past deployments. As announced in November 2023, NTT will have exclusive rights to sell May Mobility's self-driving system in Japan. The companies will also work with Toyota for autonomous vehicle testing in Japan.

Funding and financials

In November 2023, raised USD 105 million in a Series D round led by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Group, with participation from Toyota Ventures among others. The company intended to utilize the funds to commercialize its technology and to expand its autonomous transit services in the US, Canada, and Japan. It also intended to upscale operations and aim for profitability. Previously, in April 2023 , May Mobility received USD 3 million in funding from the Michigan state authorities to expand its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan and add 300 new jobs.