Their rollouts haven’t always been seamless – as evidenced by a minor collision during the first day of a pilot in Las Vegas last month – but the technology’s potential is becoming increasingly clear.
In Denver, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper joined Mayor Michael B. Hancock and leaders of French driverless shuttle builder Easymile, to declare Dec. 4 “Connected Autonomous Vehicle Day” and mark the grand opening of Easymile’s North American headquarters in Panasonic’s building.
The event – during which the shuttle made one extra stop to avoid a stray tumbleweed -- was a “significant step forward” for the state’s reputation as an advanced technologies hub, Hickenlooper said in a statement.
“By launching this first-of-its-kind connected vehicle program, we are rapidly leveraging transportation technology to improve safety and mobility on our roadways,” the governor said.
Dignitaries rode in an Easymile shuttle for a trip of roughly two blocks, from Panasonic to the nearby A Line train station near 61st and North Richfield streets.
A Panasonic official said the Denver driverless shuttles are believed to represent the technology’s first-ever usage as a bus-to-train connection.
When the shuttles actually debut in late spring or early summer 2018, they’ll ferry residents roughly three-quarters of a mile from the train station through the future site of Panasonic’s smart city Pena Station NEXT to smart bus shelters at 61st Street and Tower Road.
Employees in Panasonic’s network operating facility will monitor activity through vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle data collected by sensors in “smart” streetlights and elsewhere.
“The Network Operating Center (NOC) is not only serving as kind of the demonstration of the connected vehicle platform and showcasing what a traffic management center of the future is going to look like,” Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Co. Executive Vice President Jarrett Wendt said in an interview. "It’s really a sneak peak into what connected vehicle operations are going to look like hopefully in the coming two to three years.
Other recent driverless shuttle efforts include:
• In Gainesville, Fla., officials said last week they plan to implement the Gainesville Autonomous Transit Shuttle in May as a way for residents to get around downtown, to the city’s innovation district and to its University of Florida campus.
The effort, which will utilize three vehicles and be funded by a $2.6 million state grant, is part of the city’s overall plan to begin Smart City policies, its assistant city manager said.
• Officials in Las Vegas, who had conducted a two-week test run in January of self-driving shuttles by Navya, doubled down with a year-long public pilot in live traffic.
The pilot, which began on Wed., Nov. 8, will run the free shuttle from Container Park on Fremont Street downtown along a three-stop route through six traffic signals.
The deployment has been largely painless so far – with the exception of a minor accident on opening day, when a delivery truck backed into the shuttle causing cosmetic damage but no injuries.
• Navya, which like Easymile is headquartered in France, committed last month to delivering the first driverless shuttle to Adelaide, Australia, by Christmas, ahead of a five-year trial due to start next year.
The size of its endeavor in Adelaide has yet to be determined, but Navya has demonstrated its vehicles in Australia since 2015. It will use the shuttles to provide “last mile” public transportation in parts of Tonsley, an Adelaide suburb that’s home to an innovation district, beginning next year.
• Singapore’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement last month it hopes to deploy autonomous buses on public roads in three districts of the city-state starting in 2022. The service will complement bus service with human drivers, and will initially travel on less-busy streets.
• Agencies in the East Bay and in Minnesota are also exploring the use of Easymile shuttles.
Earlier this fall, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) in Walnut Creek, Calif., received permission from federal authorities to test the company’s 12-passenger autonomous shuttles in the 600-acre Bishop Ranch business park in nearby San Ramon. Testing could begin as early as next year.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced plans to begin testing AV shuttles starting last month at MnROAD, its pavement test facility. The goal was to determine how the vehicles perform in winter weather. Shuttles will also be showcased during the week of the 2018 Super Bowl.
• Plans were announced in September for a week-long test in Detroit the following month of six-passenger electric shuttles from Polaris Industries.
The shuttles will transport employees at commercial real estate company Bedrock LLC from their offices and parking areas around downtown.
• Also in September, officials in Bloomington, Ind., held a demonstration of a driverless Easymile bus – the first driverless bus demonstration in the state -- as part of their "Fast Forward Bloomington" initiative. It was aimed at highlighting the possibilities that new technology may hold for the city.
• Easymile shuttles are expected to begin running this fall in Finland’s capital Helsinki as part of the RoboBusLine, after neighborhood trials during the summer of 2016 of the company’s 12-passenger EZ-10 vehicles.
It’s believed by some to be another example of the technology’s first niche, as regular, autonomous transportation.
• In August, the city of Arlington, Texas announced the debut of what it called the nation’s first autonomous public shuttle network: the use, starting later that month, of two Easymile shuttles to carry fans from parking areas to games at AT&T Stadium and Global Life Park.
The Arlington City Council approved the project in March as part of a one-year pilot.
• In April, officials at the U.S. Army’s Applied Robotics for Installations and Base Operations project announced plans to move forward with eventually operating fully autonomous shuttles at Fort Bragg, a first at any U.S. military post.
The effort is part of a pilot begun in 2015, testing two, six-passenger shuttles to ferry soldiers between the Warrior Transition Battalion barracks and Womack Army Medical Center.
