Glydways showcased its state-of-the-art, fully autonomous vehicle at CES 25, which was held in Las Vegas.

The Glydways urban transportation system utilizes small, fully autonomous vehicles, known as Glydcars, on dedicated lanes, via a closed-road, high-capacity, and personalized Automated Transit Network (ATN). 

Because Glydways vehicles never share the road with human-driven vehicles, the solution is essentially designed to alleviate increased congestion, drive times, and accident rates. 

The scalable, on-demand solution also reduces transportation infrastructure costs compared to conventional public transit while providing equitable access to sustainable mobility, according to the company. 

“Glydways is solving traffic and congestion and doing it in a way that allows for 100 percent of the public to have access to mobility in a way that currently doesn’t exist,” Kim Jennett, VP, Marketing, at Glydways told METRO on the CES show floor. “Our solution is different  because it is trying to solve for those that really are impacted by not having access to mobility or public transit.”

The vehicle was on display in the Suzuki booth, which along with along with companies like ACS Infra, Mitsui Chemicals, and ENEOS, have made significant strategic investments aligned with their core business ambitions to modernize transit.

Additional investors include Khosla Ventures, New Science Ventures, Gates Frontier, and Sam Altman's Apollo Projects. 

Launching New California Facility

In addition to showcasing its new vehicle at CES, last month, Glydways announced plans for a new Development and Demonstration Facility in Richmond, Calif. 

The 14-acre site is part of the former Hilltop Mall property, which is undergoing a larger redevelopment. In the interim, Glydways will use a portion of the property to showcase its innovative technology and conduct rigorous safety and reliability testing.

“With this new facility, we’re giving the public a glimpse of the future, where people can experience ultra-quiet, on-demand transit — just like hailing a rideshare, but with the reliability and affordability of public transit,” said Gokul Hemmady, CEO of Glydways.

The new development hub will include over a mile of dedicated test track, enabling Glydways to refine its solutions in a controlled environment while simulating real-world conditions. 

As part of the facility’s full-system operations, visitors will experience on-demand travel demonstrations with Glydcars, explore the state-of-the-art Operations and Control Center (OCC), and enjoy a visitor showroom featuring immersive virtual reality demonstrations of Glydways projects worldwide. 

The hub will also house a 13,000-square-foot Maintenance and Storage Facility (MSF) to service the growing fleet of Glydcars.

Planned Projects

Last summer, the Atlanta Airport Community Improvement Districts (AACIDs) selected Glydways as the key technology provider as part of the Atlanta Personal Rapid Transit Solutions (APRTS) team. 

The half-mile Demonstration Pilot will be strategically situated at the Gateway Center Area in the City of College Park, where it will provide a mobility link between the ATL SkyTrain and the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC), extending to the Gateway Center Area. 

The need for improved, cost-effective, and sustainable transit connectivity between ATL and nearby areas has been a long-standing issue for the south metro Atlanta region. Current public transit solutions lack organized transfers and 24/7 mobility, while also not adequately addressing the environmental and congestion challenges faced by the city. 

The Gateway Center Campus location ensures that local transportation officials, residents, visitors, and the millions of travelers passing through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will have access to this innovative transit solution. 

The pilot project is set to launch next year.

“Atlanta has an interesting problem that it needs to solve, in that it has a lot of people that work in a specific zone —specifically 166,000 people that need some form of a solution,”  said Jennett. “Where we stand, because we are a fraction of the cost, we're just a better way to connect those types of areas.”

Meanwhile, closer to its Richmond facility, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and Tri-Delta Transit are developing an ambitious 28-mile ATN project in East Contra Costa County that will allow riders to tap an app and request a trip on a Glydways four-person shuttle. 

The project is expected to reduce congestion on State Route 4 (SR-4) and surrounding roads, while enhancing transit accessibility in East County by improving connections to existing options, such as BART and local bus services.

Additionally, Glydways has been tapped for a proposed connector between Mineta San José International Airport and Diridon Station in the west end of San José’s Downtown.