Autonomous Mass Transit Arrives in Ohio

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Hoping to reconnect the South Linden neighborhood with the rest of Ohio’s capitol, the city of Columbus has launched an electric shuttle program funded primarily by the federal government. The municipality frames it as the first daily, public residential autonomous shuttle to be operated by an American city. While other U.S. towns exist that would definitely disagree with the claim, Columbus may be the first to run a self-driving shuttle seven days a week on the government’s dime.

Service began Wednesday, with the three-mile route open to all residents free of charge.

As the sole recipient of a $40 million USDOT grant tied to the Obama administration’s Smart City Challenge, Columbus opted to use EasyMile EZ10s for the project. They’re about what you’d expect — generic electric boxes with a small footprint and loads of headroom. The city received another $10 million from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which acted for seed money for Smart Columbus’ Linden LEAP shuttle program.

However, the Smart City initiative was more about encouraging developing towns to experiment with new mobility solutions than simply hooking one up with a new bus route. Smart Columbus also wants to find better ways of networking transit schedules, adopt more last-mile vehicles (bicycles, e-scooters, etc.) for public use, and build its EV charging network. Autonomous shuttles just happen to be higher profile and more expensive, making their postponement less appetizing.

The shuttle service will last 12 months and carries a price tag of $1.13 million. Columbus says Linden LEAP aims to find ways to get underserved populations where they need to go, noting that the route stops at Saint Stephen’s Community House. The location provides childcare, senior care, a food bank, and additional services (e.g. healthcare, community outreach) to the local neighborhood.

“Saint Stephen’s was largely disconnected from transit,” Jeff Kupko, an engineer with Michael Baker International who served as project manager for Smart Columbus, explained to Bloomberg. “Some people were limited in the amount of food they took from the food pantry because it was too far to walk to the bus.”

From Bloomberg:

Last week, Kupko was at St. Stephen’s, making final tweaks to the EasyMile EZ10 shuttle buses. The vehicles, which cost $320,000 each, are configured to hold about 12 people and run 14 hours on a single charge through all but the most extreme temperatures. They can operate at Level 4 autonomy, meaning full autonomy with the ability for an onboard operator to take control (there’s no steering wheel or brake pedal, just a double-joystick controller).

Short of an emergency, “operators will help with wheelchairs, strollers, general wayfinding and act somewhat as a brand ambassador for the shuttle and Smart Columbus,” Kupko said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wrote special rules to govern Linden LEAP. Vehicle speeds are limited to 25 miles per hour; shuttles must stop service for 90 minutes twice daily as neighborhood schools welcome or dismiss students; and the lidar-equipped shuttles must stay on a designated route.

That should work out fine, as the EZ10 shuttles only have a 30.72-kWh battery and can run for about 16 hours per day. Those batteries can get a top-off while the youngsters make their way home, requiring just a couple of hours of nightly recharge to be fresh for the next morning.

As with the May Mobility shuttles in Providence, Rhode Island, Columbus’ colorful baby buses (thanks to the rainbow paint job) will be interesting to watch. Ohio’s capitol has dabbled with May Mobility before, fielding a few of its AVs so they could learn the roads, but it appears to be sticking with EasyMile on the Linden project. The city will undoubtedly spend the rest of 2020 trying to keep tabs on how the shuttles are performing, tallying ridership, and hoping to figure out a way to make it all work on a micro level in order for macro-level testing to become feasible.

[Image: Smart Columbus]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Akear Akear on Feb 06, 2020

    After several accidents and the corresponding lawsuits these vehicles will be gone within 5 years. This fade will go the way of the flying car.

    • TMA1 TMA1 on Feb 06, 2020

      In these scenarios, I like to point out that we had computer-controlled subway cars in DC up until 2009. One wreck and nine deaths later, and the things have been under human control ever since. If autonomous vehicles can't get it done on a track, I won't trust them on the street.

  • Akear Akear on Feb 06, 2020

    With the exception of GM and Ford the industry now realizes autonomous cars are a dead end. No customer in their right mind is going to buy a car without a steering wheel.

  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
  • Jalop1991 WTO--the BBB of the international trade world.
  • Dukeisduke If this is really a supplier issue (Dana-Spicer? American Axle?), Kia should step up and say they're going to repair the vehicles (the electronic parking brake change is a temporary fix) and lean on or sue the supplier to force them to reimburse Kia Motors for the cost of the recall.Neglecting the shaft repairs are just going to make for some expensive repairs for the owners down the road.
  • MaintenanceCosts But we were all told that Joe Biden does whatever China commands him to!
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