GRAND RAPIDS, MI – People can now use their phones to call an autonomous vehicle that will drive them between parts of downtown and the west side of the city.
Grand Rapids and May Mobility officials announced Tuesday, Aug. 11, that the city’s autonomous vehicle pilot has moved into phase two, where drivers can call in the free on-demand roadside pickups.
The new 1.36 square mile service area is located largely along the Bridge Street Corridor on the West Side of the city and between Michigan Street and Fulton Street in downtown.
People still have to walk to one of the more than 20 specific pick-up and drop-off points within the service area and be dropped off there. The service is available Monday through Friday between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
To request a trip, people must use the May Mobility smartphone app. Android users can download the app from this link. Apple device users can download it here.
The app shows drivers the closest pick-up location and a suggested drop-off location that is closest to the exact location they want to go.
As in the previous phase, there is an attendant in each of the vehicles who will take over driving if necessary. This pilot phase should be completed in April 2022.
Related: Free driverless rides on roadside pickups coming to Grand Rapids
Ann Arbor-based May Mobility is the city’s main partner in the autonomous vehicle experiment called the Grand Rapids Autonomous Vehicle Initiative. For Grand Rapids, the goal of both pilot phases is to assess the barriers and benefits of implementing self-driving shuttle services in the city.
“The City of Grand Rapids has enjoyed its partnership with May Mobility to deliver innovative mobility options through the Grand Rapids Autonomous Vehicle Initiative,” said Justin Kimura, associate director of Mobile GR.
“We look forward to entering this next phase together and supporting the further development of autonomous mobility technology while at the same time offering another fair mobility option to connect underserved neighborhoods in Ward 1 with the inner city.”
In the previous and first phase of the pilot, which began in July 2019, the autonomous vehicle service was limited to slow shuttles traveling along the preset DASH West route in the city center.
These vehicles have been replaced by four roadworthy Lexus SUV hybrids. One of the Polaris GEM shuttles will remain in the fleet as a wheelchair accessible option.
The picture shows the Lexus RX450h SUV, which May Mobility is using in the second phase of the autonomous vehicle pilot Grand Rapids. (Photo provided by May Mobility)May mobility
“We look forward to continuing our partnership with the city of Grand Rapids through an expanded downtown area,” said Edwin Olson, Co-Founder and CEO of May Mobility. “The new service enables us to explore transport needs in new areas of the community and gives people additional opportunities to experience safer, more environmentally friendly and more accessible modes of transport through autonomous mobility.”
Although the start of the new phase was announced on Tuesday, officials said the on-demand rides began on July 26.
May Mobility works with Zeeland-based Gentex Corp. work together to ensure drivers do not leave items behind when they exit the vehicle.
Officials say they are working on a data acquisition system with “sensor pods” in the vehicle that will help track objects, monitor passenger health and safety, and keep the vehicle clean and operational.
Gentex officials were not immediately available to further explain the new sensor capsule system.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership with May Mobility,” said Neil Boehm, Chief Technology Officer at Gentex. Evaluation and testing of various safety and comfort components that are necessary to better support passengers in the autonomous age. “
City officials previously said the cost of this latest stage is an estimated $ 1 million. For the part of town, they have provided $ 50,000 in grants and in-kind services such as website maintenance, communications, social media, and bus stop infrastructure.
The rest of the project costs go to May Mobility, who is looking for sponsorships.
The first phase of the pilot project with shuttles on the DASH West route cost the city US $ 250,000.
The pilot as a whole should initially last a year. It was stopped in March 2020 due to the pandemic but resumed in August 2020 with new social distancing rules and cleaning protocols.
Passenger numbers dropped to around 2,000 to 3,000 drivers per month when service resumed, from 7,000 to 11,000 drivers per month before the pandemic.
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