EasyMile
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
EasyMile was a Toulouse-based autonomous vehicle company founded in 2014 by Gilbert Gagnaire and Philippe Ligier. It built the EZ10 autonomous electric shuttle (carrying 15 passengers, manufactured with Ligier) and later pivoted toward autonomous tow tractors and material-handling vehicles through TractEasy, a joint venture with airport-equipment maker TLD. The company deployed about 180 autonomous passenger shuttles — mostly pilots — and around twenty baggage and industrial tow tractors. Its investors included Searchlight Capital Partners, Alstom, Continental, and Bpifrance, and it raised roughly $90 million.
02 / EasyMile FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
EasyMile's difficulties came from a funding environment that turned much harsher for startups, combined with sales that never scaled beyond pilots: despite 180 deployed shuttles, commercial revenue stayed insufficient. CEO Benoît Perrin acknowledged in early 2023 that the company was losing €10–12 million a year. The pandemic had already slowed its shuttle pilots worldwide, and the strategic pivot from passenger shuttles to goods transport and airport equipment came too late to close the cash gap.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Asset restructuring
EasyMile entered court-supervised reorganization in July 2024 after it could not cover liabilities as they fell due.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In December 2023, EasyMile exited a first receivership proceeding under a court-approved continuation plan, securing new funding led by new investors and majority shareholder Searchlight Capital Partners, and reorganizing to about 155 employees with a refocused strategy.
- 02
At the end of July 2024, the company was placed in redressement judiciaire (receivership) a second time, with 280 employees — two-thirds of them in Toulouse — after failing to turn itself around.
- 03
EasyMile attributed its troubles to financing conditions that had become much more difficult for startups, while sales remained insufficient.