The battery-powered driverless shuttle — operated by the mobility company Beep — had safely delivered them to the official opening of the free service, which will shuttle daily between the Laureate Park Village Center and Lake Nona Town Center. The route of about a mile will take about 12 minutes, toting 10 people at 15 mph.
“Tomorrow is here,” said Rasesh Thakkar, senior managing director of Tavistock Development, which created Lake Nona.
Jérôme Rigaud, chief operating officer of the French company Navya that built the bus, hopes drivers and passengers grow to find the technology boring and a regular part of life. He pitched its safety to skeptics by asking how quickly drivers pick up their phones when they sit down in a vehicle.
“When they say it’s boring, that’s a done deal,” Rigaud said.
As driverless vehicles begin to take hold in pockets worldwide, concerns have grown about their safety. In Arizona, an Uber autonomous vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian, while a Navya bus was involved in a crash in its first day of testing in Las Vegas.
While the second crash grabbed headlines, the National Transportation Safety Board investigated and determined the truck driver was at fault, the Washington Post reported.
Proponents of autonomous vehicles argue they’re safer than manned vehicles.
The opening of the shuttle, if proven successful, could be crucial toward reaching goals of the region. Central Florida was deemed an autonomous vehicle proving ground by the U.S Department of Transportation.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has spoken of eventually getting the technology downtown in its LYMMO circulator buses.
“I don’t see that happening in the next year or so, but we’re certainly working toward that,” he said. “We want to embrace technology. We want to be known for that.”
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, meanwhile, could see it used to shuttle visitors around International Drive and the Orange County Convention Center.
Over time, Demings said he anticipates the buses will be able to take on more of the region’s transit burden. They’ll grow in size and be able to travel farther and on more advanced routes.
As he pursues a 1-cent sales tax for transportation on the 2020 ballot, he said he suspects autonomous vehicles will play a role.
“As fast as we’re growing, with as many tourist visitors as we have in this area, we have to do a better job of efficiently moving people throughout the community,” he said.
In all, two shuttles will operate from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tavistock expects to deploy more shuttles and more routes.
The existing route connects residents near the Laureate Park Village Center to a popular downtown restaurant district where Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine, Park Pizza & Brewing Co., Boxi Park and Chroma Modern Bar + Kitchen are located.
The vehicles are air-conditioned and have 10 chairs. They have also an attendant who doesn’t drive the bus but can intervene if need be using an Xbox controller.
