By the end of next month, Austin could be on its way to having the nation's largest driverless bus pilot project operating on its downtown streets.
It will start with a testing phase where the city and its partners, Capital Metro and RATP Dev USA, evaluate the performance of six 15-passenger buses for up to 60 days. Meanwhile, the city will begin accepting proposals from autonomous vehicle makers to lease driverless buses for a year while it monitors for safety and reliability.
No routes have been picked yet. But the electric buses will likely connect to City Hall, the new Central Library and regular bus and rail stops in the downtown area. They'd have an employee on board to ensure safety and run on a loop with pick ups every five to seven minutes. The rides, at least during the pilot project, will be free.
“Capital Metro wants to lead the charge - to be among the first transit agencies in the United States to showcase this technology to our 'smart' city," Randy Clarke, Capital Metro's president and CEO, said in a news release. "I believe this will be the largest public AV bus pilot in the country."
Some of the initial buses were manufactured by RATP Group, a France-based company that has acquired several other transit companies and has offices around the globe. RATP Dev, Capital Metro and The University of Texas tested similar autonomous buses on a closed course on campus during SXSW last year.
While the vehicles are in the initial 60-day test period, the manufacturers will have the option to opt in to bid on a contract to lease vehicles to the city and Capital Metro for a year-long pilot.
The pilot project comes about three years after Google began testing driverless cars on Austin's residential streets, which included the first-ever trip where someone took a ride on public roads without a legal driver in an autonomous car.
Meanwhile, Audi has also tested autonomous technologies in Austin, and virtually every other vehicle manufacturer is testing driverless tech. Google's self-driving branch, now called Waymo, has several autonomous Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans in Austin currently and the company has announced plans to expand its fleet here.
Others, however, have encountered problems. Uber shut down its self-driving car testing in Arizona after a pedestrian was struck and killed by one of its vehicles.
