This story first appeared in Boston Business Journal, a sister publication of BostInno.
Woburn-based ClearMotion Inc. now has a distinction few, if any, other Massachusetts companies can claim: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, has tested its technology. And he seemed to like it.
“He cracked a smile a few times," ClearMotion co-founder and CEO Shakeel Avadhany said. "He loved what he saw."
Avadhany hosted Prince William in a demo of ClearMotion's automotive technology on Tuesday in Warwickshire, United Kingdom during a royal visit to the MIRA Technology Park, a research and development campus where ClearMotion recently set up a satellite office.
Avadhany said ClearMotion, which makes a software-enabled shock absorber system for vehicles, was one of two companies selected to demonstrate their technology for the prince.
For about six to eight minutes, according to Avadhany's estimate, Prince William sat in a BMW outfitted with ClearMotion's tech and got a demonstration similar to the one I got in ClearMotion's Woburn headquarters late last year.
It's not exactly a test drive. (“I don’t know if the royal palace would have trusted me to drive around the prince,” Avadhany said.) But as the prince sat in the car, a screen on the dashboard played first-person video of various roads ClearMotion's cars had previously driven down. In sync with the video, ClearMotion's shock absorbers simulated every bump and jostle of the road, like an interactive amusement park ride.
But at the touch of a button, the prince could activate ClearMotion's “proactive ride system,” an electromagnetic suspension system that counteracts a vehicle's usual jostling and leads to a much smoother ride.
"The next step will be taking him for a ride,” Avadhany said, noting that ClearMotion hopes to have its technology incorporated into London's taxi fleet at some point.
In addition to showing off the system to British royalty, ClearMotion is in the UK to take advantage of the specialized test track at the MIRA Technology Park, which is a patchwork of various road conditions and allows the company's engineers to test its ride-smoothing technology in as many conditions as possible.
ClearMotion raised $130 million from J.P. Morgan last year and plans to open a small manufacturing facility in Wilmington within the next month.
