JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Imagine riding around Downtown Jacksonville — without anyone driving the car.
Jacksonville leaders cut the ribbon on the new NAVI autonomous vehicle network Friday morning.
After several months of testing, the driverless shuttles will go live Monday, offering free trips up and down Bay Street and around the Sports Complex.
“We’re using equipment that dated back to World War II,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford while riding a NAVI. “Now to see this evolution over time of all these different technologies. This is just part of that trajectory.”
Ford says the NAVI will make Jacksonville the first city in the country to offer a public transit system using an autonomous fleet.
He took a ride along the entire three-and-a-half mile loop to show off all the new tech.
“Jacksonville is on the map far greater than people think when it relates to this technology,” Ford said.
The NAVI’s initial stretch spans a dozen stops along Bay Street from the West end to the East end of downtown and through the Sports Complex.
JTA says a shuttle will reach each stop every seven minutes to pick riders up.
If you notice any sudden stops while on the vehicle, that’s one of the NAVI’s many safety features at work detecting obstacles.
“You’ve got two cameras up here,” Senior VP of Oxa Autonomy Ryan Smith while pointing to the top of a NAVI said. “You’ve got cameras looking out to the side, you’ve got cameras looking out to the back. We have a full 360 degree view with cameras, lasers and radar.”
Each shuttle will drive the loop autonomously, but will have an attendant on board in case there are any issues, as well as operators watching from the command room at the Autonomous Innovation Center.
The Bay Street segment is just the beginning — the plan is to eventually ramp the shuttles up to the Skyway.
“This project originated from the need to replace the Skyway,” Ford said. “Second phase is that conversion of the Skyway. Phase three will be the extensions into Riverside, San Marco and the Brooklyn area.”
That’s all years down the line, for now Ford wants to perfect the new route while other cities play catch up.
“We are on the tipping edge, and we will be leading a lot of this deployment across the country,” Ford said.
The NAVI opens to the public on Monday.
It will be free through the end of September.
JTA plans to start charging $1.75 after that, but Ford says that could change.
