Automated Vehicle Technologies Pilot in North Carolina Revealed 92 Percent Customer Satisfaction for First and Last-Mile Shuttle Service.
Five Automated Vehicle Deployments in Five U.S. States Tested Technologies for Improving Rural Mobility, Last Mile Connection, and Medical Supplies.
Contra Costa County, California, United States
Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Minnesota, United States
North Carolina, United States
Columbus, Ohio, United States
ITS Technology Use Case Library
Summary Information
In the fall of 2023, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) began collecting use cases of ITS technologies from its member agencies. The goal was to highlight projects that had a tangible impact on communities across the U.S. This study included the summaries of 23 successful deployments of ITS technologies across the U.S. in total, which included six technologies focusing on Connected Vehicles (CV), 12 use cases focusing on Digital Infrastructure (DI), and five use cases of Automated Vehicles (AV).
METHODOLOGY
This summary focus on the five AV deployments. AVs use computers and sensors to take over certain aspects of driving and control, navigating from origin to destination while avoiding road hazards and responding to traffic conditions. The five AV deployments highlighted in this study were:
- “Improving Rural Mobility with Automated Vehicles”, Itasca County, Minnesota, fall 2022
- “Automated Vehicles for Last Mile Mobility”, Columbus, Ohio, 2020 - 2021
- “Automated Transportation for Medical Supplies”, Jacksonville, Florida, April through July 2020
- “Providing First and Last-Mile Mobility with AVs”, Cary, North Carolina, March through June 2023
- “Piloting Shared AVs for Future Transportation Needs”, Contra Costa County, California, March 2017 to August 2019
FINDINGS
- Minnesota’s 18-month autonomous rural transit initiative in Itasca County for improving rural mobility with AVs, resulted in 88 percent of users being repeated riders. Particular, about 10 percent of all rides were for people with wheelchairs, highlighted the impact on the people of disability.
- Deployment of AVs for last mile mobility in Columbus, Ohio, focusing on a food pantry delivery service company, led to more than 80 percent patron satisfaction with deliveries.
- The launch of automated transportation for medical supply deliveries in Jacksonville, Florida, enabled AVs to transport 30,000 samples for an average of 10,000 tests per month.
- Pilot deployment of a fully automated shuttle providing first and last-mile mobility with AVs in Cary, North Carolina, attracted 1,718 riders during the 13-week pilot. The survey results revealed 92 percent satisfaction rate among customers.
