Transdev has announced it has been selected to operate an autonomous shuttle pilot for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, as part of the agency’s overall plan to replace the Skyway monorail service with shared autonomous vehicles.
The JTA launched the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U²C) Autonomous Vehicle Test and Learn track in December 2017. The test and learn process will enable JTA to gain critical information for the development of the U²C program. It will focus on the long-term feasibility of implementing autonomous transit into existing and planned routes along the city’s downtown riverfront. The U²C will transform, modernize and expand the JTA’s Skyway with next generation autonomous vehicles (AV), to provide greater connectivity, reliability, fast and direct service, as well as sustained economic growth in downtown Jacksonville.
For the Test and Learn Track, Transdev will operate multiple 12-person EasyMile Shuttles, the EZ-10. A new test track has been created to show the capabilities of the vehicles that will operate during special events connecting passengers to select locations near Jacksonville’s Sport Complex.
“The city of Jacksonville and Transdev share a vision for the future of mobility. We are honored to be a part of this early vision that will, ideally, translate to additional transit options for Jacksonville residents and visitors,” said Dick Alexander, executive vice president of business development and innovation for Transdev. “All the credit goes to the innovative foresight inside the JTA and to recognizing how autonomous solutions will power the cities of the future.”
Transdev also operates the first autonomous vehicle network in the country at Babcock Ranch, a planned town in Southwest Florida near Ft. Myers. There, visitors will first use AV shuttles to tour homes in the community before eventually serving as a mobility solution to connect residents to the downtown area. Globally, Transdev has partnered with both the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Delphi Automotive to accelerate the implementation of open-road AV solutions, with planned operations starting this year in the Paris suburbs and in Rouen, Normandy in Northern France.
