CONCORD — In a matter of weeks, the future of driverless mass transit in California will make its debut with the arrival of two shuttles that will undergo testing in Concord and later transport workers at Bishop Ranch business park in San Ramon.
The Contra Costa Transportation Authority expects the shuttles to arrive this summer at the GoMentum Station, a test track at the former naval weapons station, said Randy Iwasaki, the agency’s executive director.
In theory, riders could order the shuttle on demand using a smartphone from wherever they are and the shuttle would take them to their destination — like Uber, minus a driver. The cube-like shuttle seats six with room for another six to stand, and would go no more than 25 mph.
Though details of how the shuttles would work and their related software are still being worked out, transportation wonks appear thrilled about the potential to change commuters’ lives.
“We are seeing quite a bit of interest in our pilot program, and once cities and towns have a better understanding of how shared autonomous vehicles fit into the transportation network, I believe you’ll start to see them rolled out across the country,” Iwasaki said. “The timeline for that will depend on how quickly and keen communities are to address their first and last mile.”
In the world of transportation, “first and last mile” refers to the gaps in public transit that require people to use another mode of transportation, such as driving their car to a BART station, or a bus from the station to their workplace. The shuttles would eliminate the gaps.
The Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority was the first in the Bay Area to jump on. In May, the agency moved to seek partners and funding to use the shuttles in Dublin and is working on a proposal to expand their use in the Tri Valley region, said Michael Tree, executive director of Wheels, a bus and paratransit service that operates in Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin.
“This will have a big impact on the Tri-Valley as there is limited parking at the BART station,” said Tree.
The Contra Costa Transportation Authority is getting its shuttles from EasyMile, a French company. Its shuttles are used in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Singapore. Two other U.S cities also are experimenting with driverless shuttles: Washington, D.C., unveiled them last month, and Beverly Hills recently approved a plan to test them.
Auro Robotics, a software company based in Sunnyvale, deployed campus autonomous shuttles at Santa Clara University last fall.
The East Bay’s two-year pilot program will cost $5 million and includes maintenance, software and two vehicles. Some $2 million is funded, and CCTA is seeking federal and state grants for the rest.
After six months at the GoMentum Station, the shuttles will head over to Bishop Ranch, a 585-acre office park in San Ramon that is home to Chevron, PG&E, AT&T and hundreds of other companies. Its clusters of buildings between Bollinger Canyon Road and Crow Canyon Road can accommodate 8,000 employees.
Bishop Ranch workers will be able to hail the shuttles to travel between office buildings within the parking lots of their compound. The shuttles will not run on city streets during the experiment.
“By having the experiment within Bishop Ranch, you have the same people using it. It will help us with fine-tuning the program as they can give their thoughts on it,” said Iwasaki.
Alex Mehran, CEO of the Sunset Development Co., which owns Bishop Ranch, said being part of the experiment is exciting.
“I am doing this because I believe in the autonomous vehicle, and it is the first step in commercializing it. If everything goes well, we hope we can have several of them here,” Mehran said.
The shuttles cannot be used on public streets until Gov. Jerry Brown signs AB 1592, a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, that would allow the CCTA to test the shuttles. Under existing law, autonomous vehicles operating on public streets must have a steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator and a driver who can take control in an emergency.
James Paxson, general manager at Hacienda Owners Association in Pleasanton, commutes from North Berkeley and says these driverless shuttles are important for high impacted train stations such as the Dublin/Pleasanton stop.
“I think it has a great deal of potential and we are anxious to see where it goes, but at the same time I do have safety concerns and whether it can operate well on streets,” Paxson said.
While recent accidents with driverless cars have raised concerns about safety, Iwasaki says the shuttles will go through extensive testing with real users.
“These shuttles have been successful in other countries,” he said. “It is not like they are completely new.”
