Peachtree Corners and T-Mobile 5G have launched a new fleet of autonomous shuttles, known as PAUL (Piloting Autonomous Use Locally), for residents in the Georgia city this autumn.
The service, implemented by autonomous mobility solutions provider, Beep, will operate along Technology Parkway and will include stops such as hotels, restaurants, retail shops, the Innovation Centre at Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners and City Hall.
“From the beginning, we’ve made it our mission to create the city street of the future in the most differentiated smart city environment in North America; and with Beep launching the new PAUL autonomous shuttle service, we’re continuing to break new ground,” said Peachtree Corners city manager, Brian Johnson.
“This deployment not only allows for the continued development and deployment of safe, enjoyable and eco-friendly transportation options; but it also allows a true mobility-as-a-service pioneer like Beep to leverage our city-owned V2X infrastructure and vibrant ecosystem to help accelerate new technology development that further enhances safety and earns critical trust from the public.”
The fleet is comprised of autonomous EVs from Navya and Local Motors, which produces Olli, a 3D-printed autonomous vehicle.
“With our turnkey approach, integrating deeply with residents and first responders, the city will immediately benefit from our experience in having run the largest and most tenured autonomous service in the country in Florida, as well as unique deployments like Yellowstone National Park,” added Beep CEO, Joe Moye.
“In addition, we’re excited to leverage the city’s advanced cellular-V2X technology, 5G and more smart city infrastructure to enable deeper learnings, to analyse vehicle data and to develop new proprietary technologies that advance true Level 4 and 5 autonomous service in the real world; while also working with government to help evolve policy and regulation alongside the technology.”
With C-V2X solutions now in Peachtree Corners, the importance of advanced 5G; with low latency, high bandwidth and high-speed connectivity critical for real-time reaction between sensors, machines and people, is becoming more important. Beep’s autonomous shuttles are connected on T-Mobile’s 5G network.
Each shuttle is equipped with a 5G gateway to power telematics data and enable interaction with 5G connected infrastructure along the Integrated Transportation Systems (ITS) corridor.
“The vision of 5G powering the city street of the future is happening now at Peachtree Corners where people, vehicles and infrastructure all communicate with each other to elevate safety and improve everyday life,” noted T-Mobile for Government VP, Dave Bezzant.
“Today, Beep’s autonomous shuttles allow all parties to accelerate the development of solutions leveraging our 5G network such as vehicle operation management for vehicle health monitoring, safety features including real-time alerts and in-vehicle entertainment.”
In addition, OVHcloud, a cloud provider, will deliver compute, storage and other cloud platform resources.
This will allow the city and select technology partners to manage, analyse, gain critical insights and make informed decisions from data generated from the autonomous vehicles and sensors across connected infrastructure.