“The use case is going to lead. It’s going to be less about innovation,” said Daisy Wall, director of government business at May Mobility, a maker of autonomous shuttle technology.
“The end goal is to create a better mobility network that’s very resilient,” she added. “Previously, the industry was led by innovation first … But now, it’s pivoting to, where’s the use case, the demand, and the need. And that’s driving a lot of the commercialization.”
Small, electric, self-driving shuttles, which are essentially glassed-in boxes on wheels capable of traveling up to the equivalent of 15 miles per gallon, have been deployed in a range of settings across suburbs, Sun Belt retirement communities, rural areas, universities, office campuses, city parks and others.
Most of the projects have been pilot deployments intended to test and perfect the technology, introduce it to riders and solve persistent transportation gaps like closing first-mile/last-mile connections with public transit, or serving an area generally not reached by transit. In virtually all cases, the vehicles include a human operator, in part, to take over should the AV technology fail or confront an obstacle it cannot negotiate, but also to ease reservations riders may feel about getting onto a vehicle with no operator.
Vehicles using May Mobility’s technology are in full AV mode upwards of 90 percent of the time, said Wall, adding human operators will likely remain a fixture, offering a sense of oversight and safety for riders and transit agencies the service partners with.
“I think it’s very dependent on the transit agency. Some agencies will feel like they want the safety operator in the vehicle,” she said. “Maybe not operating; maybe as an attendant.”
Transit observers are not so quick to jump onto autonomous shuttles.
“Facing pressure from boosters, transit agencies have been partnering with ride-sharing companies to test autonomous shuttles in cities across the country. But the goals for such programs are often ill-defined and have yielded meager benefits,” said Hayley Richardson, director of communications at TransitCenter, a think tank and advocacy group based in New York City.
TransitCenter was dismissive of claims that autonomous technology can help to solve transit’s staffing shortages. “There isn’t a single AV experiment that doesn’t plan to require a driver or attendant on board, now and into the future,” said Richardson.
Other observers say it’s still too soon to say just how integrated AV shuttles will be with transit.
“I think we’re still a little ways out from those things getting integrated into the transportation system,” Nick Maynard, CEO for US Ignite, told Government Technology last August following the release of a report detailing “lessons learned” from an autonomous shuttle pilot project at Fort Carson, Colo.
Richardson, from the TransitCenter, was more blunt.
“Transit agencies should run transit — not use limited resources to test technology with unproven utility,” she said, via email. “Running shuttles in parking lots does very little to demonstrate how such technology would perform in chaotic streetscapes.”
Autonomous vehicle legislation has been introduced in state capitals and Congress, becoming a push and pull with groups from all sides. The group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety joined some 20 other organizations to urge Congress to pump the brakes on a wide deployment of AVs on public roadways. Labor groups in California have thrown their support behind AB316, legislation that would prevent heavy-duty trucks from operating without a human driver. The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) opposed the legislation, however, calling it “a premature roadblock on technology that will make California’s roads safer and support the state’s small businesses and manufacturers that want to utilize AV trucks.”
May Mobility is sensitive to these developments, expressing a desire “to be AV forward,” said Wall.
“That being said, because we partner directly with the government sector, we want to make sure that we’re in lockstep with how the government is thinking about legislation,” she explained. “If we are, indeed, engaging with the government, and using federal funds, we want to make sure that we’re being in lockstep with what that is.”
