Ford Motor Company and self-driving technology company, Argo AI, chose Austin as one of their first cities - along with Miami and Washington D.C. - to launch self-driving commercial services for ride-hailing and goods delivery. Since 2019, Ford and Argo have been testing a fleet of autonomous test vehicles in Austin and building out the local business operations to launch and scale these services with key partners. Recently, Argo and Ford announced the companies will deploy Ford self-driving vehicles, with safety drivers, on the Lyft network for passenger rides beginning in Miami later this year and in Austin starting in 2022. This initial phase will lay the groundwork for scaling operations to deploy at least 1,000 autonomous vehicles on the Lyft network, across multiple markets over the next five years. Argo and Ford also announced a collaboration with Walmart to launch an autonomous delivery service in Austin, Miami and Washington D.C. using Ford self-driving vehicles. To support testing, as well as future ride-hailing and delivery operations, Ford has established a terminal in East Austin, serving as the base from which Ford and Argo operate and manage its self-driving vehicle test fleet. Ford also made a property investment near Austin-Bergstrom Airport to develop its command center, which will be the epicenter of the local operations. Ford and Argo’s goal is to provide Austinites with a safe, accessible transportation solution that complements the city’s existing mobility ecosystem.
Refraction AI launched a fleet of ten personal delivery devices (PDDs) in Austin, beginning in June. The electric, three-wheeled Rev-1 robots are delivering orders from Southside Flying Pizza in Travis Heights, South Congress, and portions of Downtown. The company has also partnered with Two Hands on South Congress and Modern Market’s downtown location to complete deliveries. The PDDs travel approximately 10-15 miles per hour along the shoulder of the roadway and in bike lanes. Each PDD is currently accompanied by a safety operator, following on a scooter.
To date, Austin has deployed 24 roadside units (RSUs) from three technology partners. The RSUs test connected vehicle (CV) applications, communications protocols and reliability, and the interoperability of different RSUs and on-board units (OBUs). Most RSUs use Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), but Austin also deployed its first Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) RSUs at two downtown intersections earlier this year. C-V2X expands communications standards set out by the USDOT and integrates with Ford/Argo AI platform. Many of the RSUs can transmit a variety of data including basic safety messages (BSM),signal phase and timing (SPaT),intersection geometry (MAP) data, travel information messages (TIM), and personal safety messages (PSM).
The City of Austin created the Vision Zero Viewer, a public facing dashboard that shows summary crash statistics by month, year, mode of travel, demographics, time of day, and location. This dashboard is just one component of our entire Crash Data Management System, through which we centralize and streamline the work of auditing and enriching crash records so that our Vision Zero staff can quickly diagnose and address safety issues.
The Mobility Project Database (Moped) provides a shared platform for the Austin Transportation and partners to manage the City of Austin's complete portfolio of mobility infrastructure projects. By centralizing our project data, staff will be able to use comprehensive data to inform mobility planning decisions and efficiently conduct project management work. Project data will be distributed to internal stakeholders as well as residents through a public dashboard.
MetroBike, Austin’s public bikeshare system, is continuing to make long-term bikeshare service improvements. MetroBike is moving toward an all-electric fleet, expanding the number of bikes and stations, integrating with existing and planned Capital Metro transit services, and improving services and reaching communities outside the downtown core. These improvements come in the wake of an agreement between Capital Metro and the City of Austin to rebrand Austin B-Cycle as MetroBike and use the bikeshare system to improve its connection to transit and aid the long-term mobility goals laid out in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan.
