Dive Brief:
- Beep, an autonomous vehicle company, and Moia America, a Volkswagen subsidiary, are partnering on a microtransit service in Florida, the companies recently announced.
- Autonomous, purpose-built Volkswagen ID.Buzz electric vehicles are being tested in Lake Nona, Florida, a master-planned community in Orlando, with rides for the public expected this year.
- The partners aim to deploy up to 5,000 of the vehicles in Florida, other Southeast states and nationwide in the coming years, Beep CEO Kevin Reid told Smart Cities Dive.
Dive Insight:
Often used to provide first- and last-mile connections to fixed-route services such as buses and trains, microtransit falls between public transportation and ride-hailing services.
Reid said Beep would provide both on-demand and scheduled circulator services. “We need to be able to leverage both of those things together so that we can create an on-demand capability that feeds into the circulator side,” at a price that would typically be less than ride-hailing services, he said.
“MOIA America's strategic partnership with Beep in the U.S. marks an important step in supporting microtransit operators and advancing driverless mobility in public transit,” Volkswagen Autonomous Mobility Chief Commercial Officer Sascha Meyer said in a statement.
Beep is testing six four-passenger vehicles in Lake Nona with safety drivers, Reid said. As deployment rolls out, some vehicles will be outfitted with accessibility options such as wheelchair lifts or ramps, he said.
Beep has operated a public shuttle service in Jacksonville, Florida, since July. “Ridership has been great,” Reid said, adding that it has a mid-90% on-time performance.
Cities looking to integrate microtransit should begin planning up to two years ahead, said Beep Chief Revenue Officer Toby McGraw. Projects like the one in Jacksonville have benefited from infrastructure improvements, such as transit signal priority and a private cellular network for more reliable connectivity with vehicles, he said.
Looking ahead, Reid said, “Our goal is to expand … as quickly as we can.”
