NiFT shuttle, made in Belleville, featured in Winter Fest Parade

A NiFT self-driving shuttle was an entry in December’s Winter Fest parade. The information submitted by Shane Elwart was:
“NiFT is a Belleville-based startup formed in July of 2021. NIFT was formed after our family decided to build an autonomous vehicle in just 100 days. After successfully designing, building and demonstrating some basic autonomous functions in just over 100 days, we formed NiFT LLC, right here in Belleville, Michigan. We introduced the NIFT QB autonomous development platform on Sept. 26, 2021 at MotorBella.
“This platform is personal. It’s for a short trip in and around town for families and friends and it’s not just for us able-bodied people, but for the millions of Americans with disabilities that so often do not leave the confines of their home because of the difficulty of vehicle ingress and egress. Our platform is designed to have the very best ingress and egress of any vehicle. And if you happen to be in a
wheelchair, we offer a level transition from curb to cart.
“The vehicle is all electric and is being driven not autonomously in the parade, but via an xBox controller. This is the method of control used during the early parts of autonomous development or for routes not yet developed for the driverless vehicle.”
The shuttle won second place in the Experimental Division at the Detroit Autorama. It also was highlighted at the March 25 opening ceremonies at the Robotics competition at Belleville High School.