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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (February 20, 2024) – The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) announced the launch of autonomous vehicles (AV) on FSCJ's downtown campus, becoming the first college campus in the state of Florida to receive autonomous shuttles for students and visitors.
“Our partnership with FSCJ and our industry partners Beep and Oxa, goes beyond merely deploying autonomous vehicles on campus – it marks a significant stride towards enhancing mobility in Jacksonville, making it more efficient and safer,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford. “This initiative is a testament to years of hard work and collaboration between the private and public sector, including the U.S. Department of Transportation. We are eager for the FSCJ campus and the wider Jacksonville community to experience these AVs firsthand to see the benefits these vehicles bring as we prepare for the launch of Phase 1 of the U2C program, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, in 2025.”
In 2020, JTA and FSCJ executed a joint Memorandum of Understanding to explore ways to educate, transport, and improve roadway and pedestrian safety through enhanced mobility options in the City of Jacksonville.
The shuttles operated by Beep, a Florida-based provider of autonomous shared mobility solutions, and incorporating self-driving software from Oxa, a global leader in autonomous vehicle software, will connect students, faculty, and visitors across the segmented FSCJ Downtown Jacksonville campus on a one-mile route that connects the Advanced Technology Center with Buildings A, B, C and D. The launch of these electric and autonomous platforms builds upon the years of testing and validation done by JTA at the FSCJ Cecil North Campus test and learn track and at the Armsdale Test and Learn Center; both facilities devoted to evaluating the best of breed autonomous technologies ahead of Phase 1 of the U2C, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, in 2025.
“The project at FSCJ, Beep’s third university campus deployment, marks the beginning of our collective efforts with our partners in the JTA U2C project to transform mobility and accessibility while improving roadway safety and reducing carbon emissions in the City of Jacksonville,” said Beep CEO, Joe Moye. “Community feedback and practical experience from these pilots is vital for the safe advancement of autonomous technology, which deepens our industry’s understanding of what is required to improve the development and deployment of these technologies to change how people move and connect to key services within our communities. “The AV launch synergizes with FSCJ's National Science Foundation grant, which fosters the design and implementation of innovative curricula to prepare students for the future workforce in the important areas of autonomous technology and electric vehicle platforms.
"As the community’s college, we are committed to anticipating areas of opportunity and developing ideas to address them, all while elevating the workforce of tomorrow. This
partnership is a perfect complement to our National Science Foundation grant, and we are excited for the progress we know it will bring about for our students and neighbors throughout the service area,” said FSCJ President John Avendano, Ph.D. "In direct response to the technology, tools, and resources our faculty, staff, and students now have access to, our automotive technology program representatives are regularly serving as experts in their fields, presenting at national conferences and passing on their expertise to support policy setting for industry workforce certification and helping prepare even more educators and students across the country for what’s next."
The FSCJ shuttles’ autonomous capability is delivered by Oxa Driver software, which has safety as a key design principle.
“Travelling in a self-driving vehicle is an exciting experience but first and foremost riders must be safe,” said Gavin Jackson, CEO, Oxa. “To ensure passenger safety, all shuttles driven by Oxa have extra sensory perception in comparison to human drivers; with high fidelity cameras, lidar and radar delivering 360-degree always-on sensing. These vehicle superpowers are backed up by hardware and software systems with built-in redundancy and an extensive virtual testing regime that prepared the test shuttle so well it ran autonomously on its first lap of the FSCJ route.”
Expanding the testing of autonomous vehicles in FSCJ's Downtown Campus will also continue to prepare the community for how autonomous technology will enhance the quality of life for all who learn, live, and work in the City of Jacksonville.
"Improving transportation is not just about connecting places; it's about connecting people, fostering economic growth, and opening up new possibilities in improving the quality of life for Jacksonville and its residents, present and future," said Debbie Buckland, JTA Board Chair. "The U2C program will be a catalyst for progress, bringing us closer as a community, and this collaboration with FSCJ is proof of the strength of partnerships and an exciting step toward that goal."
The first phase of the U2C program will implement a full-scale autonomous shuttle network with connected technology down Bay Street in 2025. The entire U2C program comprises three main phases. Each will incrementally build the 10-mile transportation network connecting key downtown Jacksonville corridors, including the Sports/Entertainment District, the Downtown Northbank, and Southbank, with branches into surrounding neighborhoods such as Brooklyn, Riverside, San Marco, and Springfield. The U2C program will ultimately provide mobility for all by extending access to goods, services, entertainment, and jobs in this critical urban hub along Jacksonville's riverfront. JTA's Ultimate Urban Circulator (jtafla.com)
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About the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA)
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is a state agency and an independent special district serving Jacksonville, Florida, and Northeast Florida with multi-modal responsibilities. The JTA provides varied mass public transit services and builds roads, bridges, and other
infrastructure to enhance mobility in Jacksonville. Public transportation services include bus-rapid transit (BRT) and regular bus service, paratransit, the St. Johns River Ferry, Skyway APM, and other mobility and on-demand services in Duval, Clay, Baker, Nassau, and St. Johns counties. To learn more, visit www.jtafla.com.
About Florida College at Jacksonville (FSCJ)
Known as "the community's college," Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) exists to provide equitable, high-quality, success-driven learning experiences for our diverse community of students. Serving nearly 40,000 students and awarding 5,500-plus degrees and certificates on an annual basis, the College plays a significant role in supplying the region's employers with a highly skilled, educated workforce.
About Beep
Beep delivers the next generation of autonomous, shared mobility solutions through its software and services. Specializing in planning, deploying and managing autonomous shuttles for private and public communities, Beep safely connects people, places and services with autonomous networks that reduce congestion, eliminate carbon emissions, improve road safety and enable mobility for all. Beep leverages the data and learnings from its deployments to enhance and advance the safety, experience and operating capabilities of autonomous platforms. For more information visit www.ridebeep.com.
About Oxa
Oxa is enabling the transition to self-driving vehicles everywhere through an initial focus on the most commercially advanced sector; the shuttling of people and goods in safe, secure and efficient ways. Our technology is anchored on Explainable AI principles and includes Oxa Driver, equipping vehicles with full self-driving functionality; Oxa MetaDriver, using Generative AI to replicate real-world driving challenges at huge scale to accelerate and assure the safety of deployments; and Oxa Hub, a set of cloud-based offerings for autonomous fleet management. We are partnering with service operators, vehicle OEM and equipment makers, transportation and industry leaders and regulators, building a vehicle ecosystem fit to serve autonomous transportation world-wide` as it advances. For more information, visit oxa.tech
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