Texas Southern University (TSU) Autonomous Shuttle

METRO made a major advancement of part of the Autonomous Vehicle Proving Ground designation with the June 2019 launch of the University District Project (UDP) on the campus of Texas Southern University (TSU). Through a competitive procurement process, METRO selected First Transit for a turnkey approach to operating the pilot Autonomous Shuttle service. The (UDP) is a multi-phase pilot project operating a Gen-2 EasyMile shuttle on a dedicated campus right of way. Research and evaluation of the shuttle’s potential use for transit purposes is being conducted under the research auspices of TSU’s Center for Transportation, Training and Research (TSU-CTTR). The future phases will connect to METRO’s Purple Light RailLine and later to METRO’s Eastwood Park and Ride. METRO will be looking at AV operations, first and last mile application and customer engagement. The UDP is a coordinated project in partnership with the city of Houston, Texas Southern University and the Houston Galveston Area Council along with support from Team Houston.

On-Demand Service for Underserved Communities

Houston METRO seeks to offer on-demand service as part of its popular community connectors program. The community connectors program allows METRO to offer service to under-served areas and facilitate first and last mile to public transit. METRO is developing a pilot with RideCo to test an on-demand, app-based solution for community connector customers.

Safety Enhancement Using Technology

Houston METRO recently completed a pilot of Mobileye, an Israeli subsidiary of Intel corporation that develops vision-based advanced driver-assistance systems providing warnings for collision prevention and mitigation.It has also just completed a pilot of two other safety technologies, Lytx Drive Cam and SmartDrive, both camera-based driver assistance systems. The ultimate goal is to determine if this technology can assist in reducing safety-related incidents.

METRO Drone Program

Houston METRO will be developing an agency drone program for the following uses: (1) monitoring of park and rides; (2) monitoring of facilities, station and stops to identify maintenance needs; (3) media and video of routes; and (4) public safety support.