GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The future is here, more specifically in Gwinnett County.
Self-driving shuttles will soon be carrying people through a metro Atlanta city. Peachtree Corners showed off the new autonomous vehicles on Wednesday.
Peachtree Corners and their “curiosity lab” is the first in the world to deploy the autonomous shuttles on a city street, using two different vehicles, from two different companies on the same road and talking to each other over a 5G network.
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“Out on a public roadway, interacting with human-driven automobiles, not a closed course. Out in the real world and four autonomous shuttles will operate at the same time,” said Peachtree Corners City Manager Brian Johnson.
There is no driver in these shuttles but there is an attendant to push a button and go along for the ride, although there is an emergency stop button and video game controller, just in case.
But is it safe? Multiple sensors and cameras interact with the road and surroundings. The autonomous shuttles process it all faster than humans and without distractions.
“It’s reading the lines and actually has own its LIDAR, a radar, its own eyes scanning 360 degrees for objects,” Johnson said.
With a launch event and demonstration this week, the real test starts Monday, Oct. 18, with shuttles running Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. along Technology Parkway.
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“Here you got interruptions of signal, you got people that do crazy things, you’ve got buildings, grades, curves, it’s real world,” Johnson said.
The city’s not sure how many will ride, as it’s more of a novelty right now and not based on demand. But it is a proving ground. Seven stops from a brew pub, to the hotel, to the city hall, running 15 to 20 miles per hour on the three-mile loop.
“I encourage anyone to come out, take a ride on tomorrow. Because this is happening,” Johnson said.
While it could still be years before you see this technology on your street, the CEO of Marta was there to learn and observe how to possibly take the autonomous shuttles and deploy them throughout metro Atlanta sometime in the near future.
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