FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — For the last two and a half years, the Relay autonomous shuttle has been transporting people around the Mosaic District and to and from the nearest Metro stop.
"It is the first deployment of an autonomous shuttle on public streets in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It's been an opportunity to test driverless technology,” said Eta Nahapetian, the manager of Smart Community, Innovation, and Strategy with Fairfax County.
Fairfax County partnered with several different organizations, including Dominion Energy, to bring this eco-friendly electric vehicle to life.
"It really was a match made in heaven this has been a very successful project," said Peggy Fox from Dominion Energy.
So how does this shuttle work?
"It uses a combination of lidar and GPS as well as wheel sensors. It uses the lidar to pick out all the obstacles, GPS to know exactly where it is, and the wheel sensors to know exactly how far it has moved, where the wheels are positioned, all that good stuff to keep an accurate representation of where the vehicle actually is," Jordon Greene, the Relay Safety Steward
It might seem daunting to ride in an unmanned shuttle, but it’s safe. It runs at 10 miles per hour, and it has transit signal priority, meaning the shuttle communicates with traffic signals. So if the light is about to turn red, the shuttle will tell the light to stay green until it can fully pass through the intersection. This is especially helpful considering Relay takes one of the most ambitious autonomous shuttle routes in the country.
This free shuttle service has far surpassed its original timeline of a one-year trial period. But on Friday, June 23rd, the shuttle will make its last run.
However, Relay is just the beginning for driverless shuttles in Virginia.
"Our hope is to be able to get some federal grants to expand the project to use more cutting-edge technology," Nahapetian said.
Fairfax County wants to make these environmentally friendly shuttles even more accessible for places like hospitals and for people with mobility challenges.