Steven Abrams had plans in West Palm Beach, but he certainly wasn’t going to drive there.
Instead, the former South Florida Regional Transportation Authority executive director first took a Brightline on Wednesday morning up to the city for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hurricane conference and then embarked on his first ride with MiCA, the autonomous shuttle that gives free rides.
Abrams, also a former Boca Raton mayor, said he enjoyed the ride and was pleased to see the vehicle following traffic safety.
“It stopped at the stop signs, which is more than I’ve seen people do,” he said.
More than 40 of these self-driving MiCa shuttles, which can seat up to eight people and travel up to 25 mph, already operate in more than 16 countries across the world, according to AuveTech, the company that produces them. The one in West Palm Beach is MiCa’s United States debut, and Boca Raton could soon become the second U.S. location to use them.
These autonomous vehicles could be implemented as a pilot program in Boca Raton with the goals of complementing the existing on-demand BocaConnect service by addressing peak demand and service gaps and encouraging more “exploration and access” to the city’s downtown, according to city officials.
The MiCa shuttle runs on autonomous vehicle software made by Boca Raton-based Guident. Guident CEO Harald Braun said the company has a mission of making autonomous vehicles safer.
The rides are free of charge, and people can get on or off at one of several stops along the shuttle’s route.
The nerve center
On a recent weekday morning inside the 1.7 million-square-foot Boca Raton Innovation Campus, or BRiC, system engineer and remote control operator Andy Alvarez was stationed at an arcade game-like setup that can control the West Palm Beach shuttle.
Screens line the walls with information on the shuttle’s route, a map of the city and temperature conditions around BRiC.
“It’s kind of NASA style,” Braun said of the setup.
Alvarez watched a monitor that displayed the shuttle’s POV as it traveled the continuous 0.9-mile loop, which it runs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday.
Alvarez also has access to a steering wheel, brake and gas pedal, in case he needs to take over control of the shuttle and drive it remotely.
For the West Palm Beach shuttle, intervention isn’t yet necessary because there is a backup driver inside the shuttle during all shifts. But if the city and Guident decide to eventually move forward without a physical driver, then the shuttles could operate with remote backup drivers only. This also could allow for one remote backup driver to operate multiple shuttles at once.
Under state law, autonomous vehicles are allowed in Florida, with licensed operators able to operate them remotely. “A fully autonomous vehicle may operate in this state regardless of whether a human operator is physically present in the vehicle,” the law states.
Braun said the autonomous software can solve any challenges most of the time, but the shuttle does encounter situations that may require some human intervention.
For example, Braun regaled how on a particularly windy day in West Palm Beach, the shuttle stopped along its route seemingly out of nowhere. When the team behind the remote monitoring and control center looked into it, they found out that a palm tree branch was coming into close contact with the roof of the shuttle because of the wind, causing the shuttle to stop.
And during a recent morning shift, the MiCa shuttle made an abrupt stop after sensing a low-flying bird along the street, causing its passengers to lurch forward, even with their seat belts fastened.
In these situations, Braun said, the shuttle is doing the right thing, but human intervention still is necessary, hence the remote-control access and, for now, the backup driver inside the shuttle.
Teryl Jones, a MiCa safety monitor who actually sits inside the shuttle, has to manually take over the West Palm Beach shuttle on its route through the city several times each hour, whether due to jaywalkers, illegally parked delivery trucks or heavy congestion at the Brightline station. After Jones switches from autonomous to manual driving, he uses an Xbox controller to operate the vehicle.
“Let’s assert our dominance,” Jones said on a recent weekday morning as he prepared to manually drive the MiCa through thick traffic at the Brightline station.
“Every day is an adventure,” he said.
As the MiCa conducts its continuous laps, people often stare or strain to snap pictures of the shuttle.
“I get my 15 seconds of fame every day,” Jones joked.
Shortly into the morning shift, Ansell Regalado Borges, his dog and his 3-year-old son, Sebastian, hopped into the shuttle for their first time. They didn’t have anywhere specific they wanted to go; rather, Borges said his son “has been obsessed with riding the robot car.”
Sebastian’s obsession was obvious — he marveled at everything inside the shuttle, from its cameras to the views of the bustling city outside the shuttle’s windows, frequently seeking his dad’s attention to point out something new.
As a former Uber driver, Borges said he sees the potential in a vehicle like MiCa.
“I think it’s awesome,” he said. “I would love for this to be a thing.”
A little more than an hour later, Sumner and Mai Kaye entered the shuttle for their first time, also with no set location, just curiosity.
“It’s free? Wow!” Mai Kaye said after Jones told her about the lack of cost associated with the rides.
Sumner Kaye said he and his wife can’t drive the way they used to, but they still “like to go out and see things,” so this kind of technology could be beneficial for them.
Jessica Keller, the West Palm Beach Transportation and Mobility Manager, said in a statement that the city “is pleased to be the site for this urban transportation pilot that will showcase innovation in tackling evolving transportation challenges.”
Boca Raton city officials want to bring these autonomous shuttles to the city, so much so that City Council members discussed during a recent public meeting how to accelerate the process.
City staff members presented to the City Council a three-month trial that would involve an autonomous vehicle completing a 0.5-mile loop in Mizner Park.
Mayor Scott Singer said he would like to see the route of an autonomous vehicle more expanded than a 0.5-mile loop.
“I like this concept, but I don’t think it’s going to be particularly successful from one end of Mizner Park to the other because it’s a very pedestrian-friendly area,” he said during the recent public meeting. “To walk from one end to the other is not that long.”
Instead, Singer said he’d like to see a shuttle also traveling to areas such as Sanborn Square and the north side of Palmetto Park Road.
City Council member Yvette Drucker expressed frustration at not already having the shuttles in use, especially when Guident is headquartered in Boca Raton.
“Once again, Boca Raton is late to the party,” she said during the meeting. “I don’t understand why we continue to fall behind on getting things done in a quicker fashion.”
Now, city staff members are looking into how the city could implement the technology in a quicker and more widespread way.