Beep has begun operating the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s autonomous vehicle service NAVI (Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation), which it states is the USA’s first fully autonomous public transportation system.
Backed by a five-year O&M contract, Beep will operate and maintain the NAVI service, which is part of the JTA’s Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) program.
In this first phase of the JTA’s U2C program, Beep will operate and maintain a customized fleet of 14 electric, autonomous Ford E-Transit vehicles that are integrated with Oxa’s automated driving system (ADS) and Buy America and ADA-compliant (Americans with Disabilities Act). Beep’s technology will facilitate both vehicle deployment and command center operations from the JTA’s latest Autonomous Innovation Center (AIC).
The vehicles will be deployed along the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, a 3.5-mile route in Downtown Jacksonville with 12 stops from the Central Business Core to the Sports and Entertainment District, which will encourage downtown revitalization, the organizations say.
“Beep is proud to improve safety, expand access and optimize public transit in Jacksonville with the first fully autonomous system in the nation. Building this system is a significant milestone to achieve fully sustainable, smart cities,” said Kevin Reid, chairman of the board and recently appointed CEO of Beep. “Our strong, long-term partnership with the visionary leaders at the JTA has laid the groundwork for the transformation of mobility and accessibility across the nation.”
Beep aims to serve both public and private communities. Its capabilities enable a broad and diverse ecosystem of ADS vehicle platforms and use cases in municipal services, rideshare and more, to deliver safety across rural and urban environments. Beep’s AV-agnostic supervision and management platform AutonomOS enables operators and agencies to deliver transit-integrated AV mobility services at scale, enabling vehicle and cabin supervision, fleet orchestration and integrated workflow management.
“The goal of the Ultimate Urban Circulator is to provide multi-modal transit options that improve the city’s health, economy and environment,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford. “The launch of NAVI is a crucial step toward a smarter, more accessible, better-connected Jacksonville – a city that is defining the future of mobility.” The City of Jacksonville is geographically large with low density.
“Our continued investment in Beep reflects our confidence in their vision for building the next generation of public transit systems that reduce traffic congestion, improve rider safety and expand accessibility,” said Mark Rostick, senior managing director at Intel Capital. “As the company’s longtime chairman, Kevin brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the CEO role and is well-equipped to lead the Jacksonville program and Beep’s future expansion into new communities.”
In related news, Fusion Processing has launched passenger services on the Connector project in Cambridge, marking the start of continuous automated public bus services in an urban environment. Read the full story here