Transdev trials autonomous school shuttle in Florida

Public transport operator Transdev is to launch a driverless shuttle for school children in Florida. The autonomous service will run this autumn at Babcock Neighbourhood School in the new town of Babcock Ranch, north-east of Fort Myers. The 12-person Easy Mile Ez10 Gen 11 shuttle will operate at 12mph and brake automatically when it detects obstacles or manoeuvre around them safely. A ‘safety attendant’ will remain on board. Transdev has confirmed it will test the shuttle with students and families on t
September 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Public transport operator 8574 Transdev is to launch a driverless shuttle for school children in Florida.


The autonomous service will run this autumn at 8412 Babcock Neighbourhood School in the new town of Babcock Ranch, north-east of Fort Myers.

The 12-person Easy Mile Ez10 Gen 11 shuttle will operate at 12mph and brake automatically when it detects obstacles or manoeuvre around them safely. A ‘safety attendant’ will remain on board.

Transdev has confirmed it will test the shuttle with students and families on the run-up to the pilot.

Dick Alexander, executive vice president of mobility innovation at Transdev, says the service will offer an important mobility option for children.

The company intends to eventually offer a service which allows students and parents to book on-demand and door-to-door shuttles based on individual needs.

Babcock Ranch is a newly-built solar-powered community, which will eventually include 19,500 homes and six million square feet of commercial space.

The partnership has been offering an autonomous shuttle service since the town opened in January to provide an alternative to travelling by cars.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Transit must be accessible to all, says SkedGo
    April 24, 2020
    When it comes to accessibility we need to embrace a more open and collaborative approach to ensure MaaS realises its true potential, says SkedGo’s Sandra Witzel – after all, a billion people on the planet have a disability
    Read More
  • Better liveability through more micromobility
    November 1, 2022
    Shared and micromobility offer new options, weaning urbanites off their cars, stitching existing mass transit combinations together. Andrew Stone looks at a report on transforming our cities
    Read More
  • 5G powers Peachtree connected shuttles 
    October 13, 2021
    Beep AVs equipped with 5G gateway to provide telematics data and talk to infrastructure
    Read More
  • Switching Atlanta onto MaaS
    May 9, 2019
    It’s easy to talk about MaaS in the abstract – but MaaS isn’t going to work if it’s just a theory. Colin Sowman speaks to one woman about the practical benefits - and difficulties - of getting out of her car and switching to public transit in Atlanta, Georgia One of the first goals of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) inventor Sampo Hietanen is that MaaS should persuade households they don’t need a second car. This is starting to happen - even in the car-dominated US. Last year, authorities in the state of Ge
    Read More

Highlighted Content