Central Texas' transportation agency, Capital Metro, has announced that it will explore automated vehicle (AV) technology through evaluation demonstrations.

Testing could begin as early as late July. If testing goes well, a pilot service is expected to follow later this fall.

“Capital Metro wants to lead the charge - to be among the first transit agencies in the United States to showcase this technology to our 'smart' city. I believe this will be the largest public AV bus pilot in the country,” says Randy Clarke, Capital Metro's President/CEO.

“This is an amazing opportunity to better connect our customers and community while also shaping the future of transportation.”

A variety of entities are working together to initiate this pilot, including teams from Capital Metro, RATP Dev USA (a Capital Metro service provider), the city of Austin and autonomous vehicle manufacturers.

“Autonomous vehicles are key to providing efficient and effective first-mile, last-mile solutions,” says Blaine Rigler, President of RATP Dev USA.

“This project with Capital Metro further solidifies our commitment to bring transportation innovations to Austin that make it faster, safer and easier to move around the city.”

The autonomous vehicle pilot project is expected to have two phases. The first phase will evaluate the performance of different autonomous bus vehicles from different manufacturers.

RATP Dev and the vehicle manufacturers will analyze the vehicles, and will also work with city officials to test signal components and on-street performance.

“Austin Transportation is excited to partner with Capital Metro on this groundbreaking effort,” says Jason JonMichael, Austin Transportation Assistant Director for Smart Mobility.

“We're dedicated to making mobility safer, cleaner, more efficient and more equitable. This project has the potential to bring us closer to all of those goals and open up opportunities for future technological innovation.”

Capable of carrying up to 15 passengers, these electric-powered vehicles will be ADA accessible. While the vehicles are being evaluated and in service, operators will be on board.

Vehicle safety and the efficiency and performance of battery technology will be examined during the testing phase of the project, which is expected to take up to 60 days.

While the testing phase is underway, the second phase of the autonomous vehicle pilot project will be initiated. During this phase, autonomous vehicle manufacturers will be able to submit proposals for Capital Metro to lease six vehicles for its in-service circulator pilot.

Capital Metro anticipates the selected fleet of pilot vehicles will be in operation in the fall of this year, and for a period of 12 months, the vehicles are expected to be in service picking up and dropping off customers.

During this time, a variety of things will be evaluated, including the overall customer experience, safety and the public's reception and adoption of autonomous vehicles.

The specific corridor that the autonomous vehicles will travel has not been finalized, but representatives from Capital Metro have planned for the vehicles to serve City Hall and the Central Library. The vehicles would also be used to help Capital Metro customers make easy connections to other transit services at the downtown MetroRail station and Republic Square.

A five- to seven-minute frequency of service is planned—tentatively— during the pilot.

Capital Metro will not see any expenses from the demonstration and autonomous vehicle testing phase. After bids are submitted during the procurement (RFP) process, final costs of the pilot will be determined.

RATP Dev USA is supporting the pilot, and also offsetting costs.

During the pilot, customers will be able to ride the autonomous vehicles for free.

Capital Metro says that it will be exploring partnerships to help offset operating expenses, in an effort to deploy the pilot program.