Detroit has been getting a lot of attention on the self-driving vehicle front recently.
Just last week, the State of Michigan said it has embarked on efforts to create a corridor between Detroit and Ann Arbor with infrastructure specifically slated for connected and autonomous vehicles. The project’s viability will be considered over the next 24 months.
And now, a self-driving paratransit shuttle pilot is being deployed to help senior citizens in the Motor City.
Last year, French company Navya received a mobility grant from PlanetM, the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s mobility arm, to deploy such a shuttle. This month, a Navya Autonom shuttle began operating along a preprogrammed 1.3-mile route in Detroit, connecting Brush Park Manor senior center and Brewster Homes to Detroit Medical Center Heart Hospital, according to a release.
The free, wheelchair-accessible shuttle runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and is exclusively for use by residents of the two communities. A safety operator is on board to ensure passenger safety and educate passengers about the shuttle. It will operate through mid-October.
Navya did not immediately say how many passengers the shuttle can transport per trip or how many trips on average the shuttle makes daily.
The deployment is a partnership among Navya, the state’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, PlanetM, clean-energy business accelerator NextEnergy and fleet optimization service Bestmile.
Other partners are Flagstar Bank, AARP, local utility DTE Energy and IXR Mobility, which provides the safety operator.
“We have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to leverage our state’s robust mobility ecosystem and resources to ensure future transportation solutions better serve our communities,” Trevor Pawl, the state’s chief mobility officer, said in the release.
Passengers and operators are required to wear masks and social distance using designated seating because of COVID-19 concerns. Surfaces are sanitized between trips.
Navya’s shuttle is not the first on public roads in Detroit. May Mobility, a self-driving shuttle provider based in Ann Arbor, has been operating commercial six-seat self-driving shuttles in the city since June 2018.