ARLINGTON (1080 KRLD)- Arlington has launched a program using autonomous vehicles that will carry people around downtown and the UT Arlington campus. "RAPID" is the first program in the United States to add autonomous cars to an existing service.
Customers can use the Via app to book a ride anywhere in the city or to the Centreport TRE station. RAPID, which stands for Rideshare, Automation and Payment Integration Demonstration, is now available through the app to book rides with one of five autonomous cars.
courtesy Alan Scaia
"Of course, Arlington has become known as one of the most innovative cities in America," says Mayor Jeff Williams. "We continue to try out new programs. We have become a laboratory for technology."
Most rides will cost between three and five dollars. People who book rides will be told to walk one to two blocks for a car to pick them up.
"It is a perfect fit to test right here in downtown," Williams says. "Not only because it's right next door to a national, leading research institute like UT Arlington, but also because Downtown Arlington is booming."
"As one of the most diverse, premeire public research universities in Texas, research is an essential focus at UT Arlington, and one of our most important tools in the education and training of our students," says UT Arlington Interim President Teik Lim. "We are always excited and proud to direct some of our intellectual capital to real-world challenges to this public transit project,"
Each of the cars is fitted with sensors and cameras. They will direct the car to stop when traffic lights change, when a pedestrian is in the road, when it is safe to pull out from a stop sign and other traffic issues.
"We are more safe here now, in a self-driving vehicle, than if we had a person behind the wheel," Williams says.
"We want to change the way people get around cities and the way people live in them," says Edwin Olson, chief executive officer of May Mobility, which provided the cars. "That's one of the reasons we're so excited about this project. It's a first step toward that vision."
Olson says, even though the cars are self-driving, an attendant will be behind the wheel in case of emergency and to provide service to customers.
Arlington received a $1.7 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to add autonomous vehicles to the Via rideshare service.
