Moderation Team
The questions began flying as soon as Jacksonville Transportation Authority automation director Bill Frazer shut the door on the sensor-studded Green Power EV Star autonomous bus.
Before he could even put the 25-foot long electric minibus into motion and use up some of its 150-mile range, the Jewish Community Alliance summer camp youth wanted answers.
“How fast can it go?” asked one camper.
“It will do 65 mph if I drive or up to 35 in autonomous mode,” Frazer said.
“Are you trying to save the planet?” asked another.
“We are trying to save the world,” said Frazer of why they have been testing autonomous electric vehicles since JTA launched its Ultimate Urban Circulator program in 2017.
Twenty-two boys and girls ages 12 to 14 took part in Monday’s tour of JTA’s Armsdale Test & Learn Center off Lem Turner Road and Interstate 295, the first of a regular round of summer camp visits scheduled there with children and teens, the authority said. JTA uses the parking areas at the Northwest Jacksonville park-and-ride bus facility to test the autonomous vehicles that could soon be running in the city’s downtown and San Marco.
The campers next boarded an Olli, a 13-foot-long blue electric cube which silently whirred through the test track, turning, stopping and moving without operator Marcus Dixon doing anything.
“What amazed me was it being autonomous and how it can react,” said Luxiah Beard, 13. “… I just really like science.”
For Megan Porkert, 14, rides in driverless vehicles was “pretty cool.”
“It is progressive,” she said, adding she wasn’t nervous. “… They already have the layout of everything and programmed, so I was not really concerned.”
JTA has plans to convert Skyway to autonomous system
The JTA has been working for years on plans to convert the underused Skyway into an autonomous vehicle system that would run on the overhead Skyway tracks as well as downtown streets.
JTA originally sought $379 million from a gas tax hike to extend routes. But in late May the City Council moved $132 million of that money to the Emerald Trail network of paths for walking and bicycling.
JTA spokesman David Cawton said there is enough funding in place to modify 2.5 miles of Bay Street between Pearl Street and TIAA Bank Field so the vehicles can operate there within two years.
The gas tax funds approved by the City Council will then see the elevated tracks modified with ramps to get the autonomous vehicles down to the Bay Street corridor. That will make for a 10-mile system that also runs into San Marco as well as JTA’s LaVilla headquarters and bus hub, completed in three to five years.
Having young teens see the technology they may be using to commute across the city in a few years is educational.
“If you are talking about future generations who will be the ones using this technology, getting them familiar with it now is important whether or not we get funding from the city for this or that,” Cawton said. “… This technology is already out there. There’s pilot programs across the U.S. and we have been working on this for a while now.”
The campers went inside the test center to check out the autonomous vehicle center and learn the basics of how they navigate using a combination of sensors and instant communication with traffic computers. Parked inside was a Nayva Autonom Shuttle, one of four used last year to transport COVID-19 test samples from a drive-thru testing location at Mayo Clinic.
“They are self-driving, so you don’t have to operate them,” Frazer said, then pointed at the Nayva. “Anybody ever heard of the Xbox? Well, this vehicle is controlled by an Xbox controller, so there is no steering wheel or driver’s seat. You control it manually with an Xbox controller.”
JTA interns walked blindfolded campers in the test center, telling them when to start and stop so they got an idea of how an autonomous vehicle’s sensors work to sense their surroundings. Then the campers stood in front of a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor and saw what it saw on a flat-screen TV.
Next, a demonstration of the Olli’s auto-stop feature.
“What would you guys rather see: It stop, or run me over?” Frazer asked before standing in front of Olli.
“Stop,” said one boy.
“Run you over,” said another to laughter.
“Stop, that’s the answer we wanted,” Frazer said to more laughter before Olli halted, then drove itself around him before waiting at a stop sign.
Olli has a 40-mile range, able to carry up to 12 people at a top speed of 25 mph. It is the latest autonomous EV to be tested as the JTA works toward the eventual launch of an autonomous vehicle program downtown.
Jewish Community Alliance officials thought it would be a good idea to let its youth see the autonomous vehicles in action and arranged the summer trips, said camp counselor Caterina Calabretta, who admits she was a bit nervous about riding a driverless people-mover.
“Hopefully in a couple of years this will be rolling out in Jacksonville, so what better way to let our camp in there,” she said. “It was a bit scary stepping on it. But it was really cool once you are on it and feel when the vehicle senses everything, turns and stops.”
The boys and girls were intrigued as Olli drove them around the test track with operator Dixon never touching the joystick controller used to manually drive it. It went around a traffic circle, then went back onto the track toward a stretch of asphalt just soaked to simulate rainfall.
“It is in fully autonomous mode right now; no driver assistance,” Dixon said as Olli stopped, sensed, then moved on. “This has LiDAR, radar and cameras, so what it sees is a reflection off the water. It sees that as an obstacle.”
The test ride ended with everyone getting back on the Green Power EV Star, which circled both test tracks with Frazer’s hands in the air, before pulling to a hands-free stop in a park-and-ride slot.
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Source: www.jacksonville.com
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