Filed under Mobility · 2022
Optimus Ride
2015 - 2022, 7 years old
An MIT spinout building low-speed autonomous electric shuttles for geofenced communities and campuses.
Optimus Ride ran real autonomous shuttle pilots at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and other geofenced sites, but the small-scale low-speed model could not scale into a venture-grade business as the broader AV market consolidated around well-capitalized robotaxi players. In January 2022 Magna bought the technology, IP, and about 120 engineers, while CEO Sean Harrington did not transition over and the company ceased operations. The deal was a soft landing for the team rather than a strategic exit.
- Founded
- 2015-01
- Shut down
- 2022-01-11
- Funding raised
- $84M
- Years alive
- 7
- Founders
- Ramiro Almeida, Ryan Chin, Sertac Karaman