JTA takes driver-less vehicle prototype for a test run

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s CEO said driverless vehicles will change the face of public transportation in Jacksonville.

“This is not a question of if. It’s a question of when,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford.

Rosalie Simcoe is one of the first people in Jacksonville to ride in the Easy Mile driverless vehicle operated by Transdev.

“It was incredible. It was very smooth. I felt very safe,” said Simcoe.

It’s a model that could soon be operating on Jacksonville’s streets and Skyway.

“This vehicle here is the one that we currently have on our test track over by EverBank Stadium. And we’ll be running that vehicle for the next few months and then we’ll swap out, every so many other manufacturers’ vehicles. So, we’re in a test and learn phase,” said Ford.

The prototype can travel up to 28 miles an hour, but for Tuesday’s demonstration at the University of North Florida, it was cruising at around 10 miles an hour.

A man at the demonstration stepped in front of the driverless vehicle to show it sensed he was there, and it came to a stop until he walked out of the way.

Ford said it would take about five years to convert Jacksonville’s existing Skyway infrastructure to support autonomous vehicles.

“Concurrently with that, we are looking at deploying some pilot corridors, test vehicles that will operate in actual passenger service, so we can advance this technology and not wait for just the Skyway conversion,” said Ford.

Earlier this month, Action News Jax showed you a different driverless vehicle model in Las Vegas that JTA is also considering. It's the country's only pilot program in traffic.

Cox Media Group