Autonomous R&D Firm Relocating to Fishers
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFISHERS, Ind. — A California-based company specializing in small, autonomous vehicles has announced plans to relocate its global headquarters to Fishers.
Perceptin says it plans to invest $6 million to establish its global offices at the IoT lab in Fishers and create up to 160 jobs by 2022.
The company says the new location will be used to collect data and conduct research on its low-speed electric vehicles, using the city as a pilot program.
“Indiana’s commitment to growing and enhancing its technology sector, along with its business-friendly environment and collaborative industry partnerships, is why we chose to locate here,” said Shaoshan Liu, chief executive officer of PerceptIn.
The vehicles, that are about the size of a golf cart, are used for driverless, microtransit services in urban settings. The company says the vehicles are intended to be used for short-distance commutes. The company says its vehicles rely on a patented vision-based fusion with modular computing systems to operate on streets with limited traffic.
Liu says he envisions passengers will be transported daily from the Indiana IoT Lab to downtown Fishers with a goal to expand, “increasing our presence throughout the state, setting an example for the rest of the nation on utilizing advanced technologies to improve public transportation systems.”
The company says it will partner with Energy Systems Network, an energy and transportation technology initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, to develop and deploy a pilot microtransit program in Fishers.
” When we launched the Indiana IoT Lab in 2017, a company like PerceptIn is exactly who we had in mind to propel our city even further as a leading city for tech,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness.
PerceptIn says it will begin hiring for engineers, analysts and technicians and plan to be moved into the space by early 2020.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. says it has offered Perceptin more than $3.5 million in conditional tax credits based on the company’s job creation plans.