Metro Council Member Robert Swope showed off an electric, driverless shuttle this week as part of his proposal to tackle transit problems in Nashville.
The plan calls for a fleet of these short-range buses to solve traffic congestion and drop riders off closer to their destinations.
Swope says this is a small step towards fixing Nashville’s transit issues, but the technology for self-driving buses is ready today.
“We’re not going to wave a magic wand and the traffic’s going to be fixed,” Swope said. “This is one part of a much larger ecosystem that needs to be created and implemented.”
The driverless shuttles are made by a French manufacturer named NAVYA, and one shuttle was shown in action at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.
It looks like a VW bus, but without a diver’s seat or even a steering wheel. An attendee even tried to block the shuttle’s path to see what would happen, but the bus came to a stop and honked at the pedestrian.
Similar low-speed shuttles are already operating in Las Vegas and the University of Michigan.
Swope says his plan would not need a referendum because existing funds could be repurposed to invest in the autonomous shuttles.
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