Peachtree Corners is set to introduce an autonomous vehicle (AV) service for public transportation to hotels, restaurants, and various stops starting the week of October 7. This marks the first deployment of AV technology by May Mobility in Georgia, utilizing a distinctive pink and green Toyota Sienna that accommodates up to four passengers, including those using wheelchairs.
The on-demand service will feature eight designated stops and can be accessed via a smartphone application for availability checks. Peachtree Corners, a suburban Atlanta city with a population of 45,000 residents and an equal number of workers, aims to enhance this service, which operates on T-Mobile’s 5G network, allowing the city to monitor AV operations through C-V2X technology from its operations center.
Initially, the service will include a safety driver in a single vehicle, with plans to introduce additional vehicles and a fully autonomous operation by winter. The city also aims to extend the route to its town center.
May Mobility currently operates in 15 cities across the U.S. and Japan, with its only fully autonomous service in Sun City, Arizona. Since its inception in 2017, the company has attracted $300 million in private investment and employs 280 people. According to Daisy Wall, government sector commercial leader for May, the Toyota Sienna is equipped with Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM), utilizing in-situ AI for real-time simulations during autonomous driving. This system processes data from 18 sensors, including five lidars, five radars, and eight cameras, allowing the vehicle to operate at Level 4 autonomy, which is considered a high level of self-driving capability.
May Mobility claims to be the only AV company capable of generating live training data to address edge case scenarios, significantly reducing the time and cost associated with establishing service in new cities without the need for a safety operator. The MPDM receives sensor data every 200 milliseconds, enabling it to anticipate thousands of possible scenarios in real-time and adapt to maneuvers not predetermined by engineers.
Peachtree Corners has also focused on pedestrian safety in collaboration with its Curiosity Lab, a tech incubator and innovation center. “The big benefit with May is we don’t need autonomous vehicle lanes,” stated Brandon Branham, CTO and assistant city manager.
Branham and Wall emphasized the need for on-demand transit solutions in rapidly growing areas, particularly those lacking public transportation. The partnership to implement this service developed over the past year, with Branham expressing enthusiasm for enhancing local transit options. “We’re really excited to bring May to Peachtree and move residents around at higher speeds and with more destinations,” he noted.
