On Thursday, Oct. 31, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) tested what it is calling the first Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible autonomous vehicle in the United States. 

JTA has made ADA accessibility a requirement for the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) autonomous vehicle program, which is a multi-phased program that will convert and expand Skyway monorail cars into an autonomous vehicle network.

“It needs to be something that all of our customers and citizens can easily utilize,” JTA CEO Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. said via WJCT.org.

One of the people who got to ride in the autonomous Navya electric test vehicle was Sharon Hoffmeyer Dykes, who uses a motorized wheelchair as a result of her muscular dystrophy. 

“I love the technology and I didn’t experience any difficulties with it,” Dykes said. 

According to Ford, the current plan is to have the Bay Street Innovation Corridor up and running within the next three years, potentially sooner.

Officially known as the Jax Bay Innovation Corridor, the corridor will run approximately from TIAA Bank Field, home of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, down to the new Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center.

“We've worked with the Jaguars in terms of their development and Lot J. And so with all of that work kind of culminating into a final design, then we'll start the engineering and start working towards actually purchase or leasing of vehicles,” Ford explained.

Although the autonomous vehicles will eventually replace the Skyway monorail cars, currently, the plan is for the autonomous vehicles to debut at street level.

An autonomous vehicle vendor for the project has yet to be selected, but the vendor that is eventually chosen will be required to provide autonomous vehicles that can handle 12 hours of continuous operation before needing to be recharged, according to JTA Vice President of Automation Bernard Schmidt.

Autonomous testing is expected to soon expand beyond the existing track.