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focus on EV vehicle deployment, but this has now shifted towards a holistic approach for alternative fuel transportation, whether it be hydrogen, gas or CNG. We never intended to get into those markets but as we saw what was unfolding, we realized we needed to pivot for Optimal to survive and grow.” The gas product serves a practical purpose and is described by Jeff as a‘ bridge product’ that allows customers who are still undecided about EVs to experience the low-floor element while they evaluate.
With a distributed workforce spanning Michigan, Taiwan and Bosnia, each region has a specific focus. Optimal’ s group in Bosnia carries out most CAD work and meshing, while the Michigan site focuses on design work, and the Taiwan team focuses on emerging technology. This geographic distribution creates a significant advantage in that the company can engineer around the clock, giving it a far more rapid development cycle. The Taiwan team has recently created another innovative product launch- a 360-degree camera system designed to advance vehicle safety.
“ Technology seems to be further ahead in overseas markets,” Jeff continues.“ We’ re able to learn early on about new technologies and explore any advantages to deploying them here in the US. The 360-degree camera is one of the early AIbased camera systems on the market. It involves the installation of four cameras to monitor what’ s going on around the bus and it uses the input from all the cameras to decide whether it needs to alert the operator to the potential hazard, which could be a person, an animal or another vehicle. As opposed to historical camera systems that use a single camera and flash one image, this uses all four inputs. We’ re focused on a holistic safety system to help the driver out with their environment.”
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