UNC Charlotte autonomous shuttle needs improvements, state study shows
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The autonomous bus at UNC Charlotte still has work to do, a report from the school and state officials shows.
The N.C. Department of Transportation and UNC Charlotte partnered with Beep Inc. to launch CASSI last summer to provide service on campus. The 23-week pilot program operated a 2.2-mile, six-stop route that connected the main campus LYNX Blue Line light rail station with several other landmarks.
The CASSI study, released Friday, revealed that despite the lure of new technology, most people on campus opted for other transportation options to reach their destinations.
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“The shuttle’s slow speed, delay from when the attendant needed to troubleshoot problems or manually operate the shuttle, and route constraints that resulted in a less direct path between destinations contributed to the lower performance of the shuttle compared to conventional transit options,” the study reads.
The program made 825 trips during the trial, serving 565 riders. Among them, 83 percent reported having a good experience using the shuttle; however, only 56 percent thought the shuttle arrived at their stop within a reasonable time frame.
Program leaders say technology was the primary barrier to providing uninterrupted service for Niner riders. The most common cause of the shuttle’s disengagement from autonomous into manual mode was lost connection or miscommunication at the signalized intersections on the route.
“Greater structure, predictability, and coordination around the testing and validation of the V2I equipment and more resources from the vendor towards troubleshooting would have been beneficial,” the study reads.
In addition, the shuttle was often out of service due to Global Navigation Satellite System signal loss and battery insufficiency.
“These findings suggest that there was no time or connectivity benefit to using the shuttle over other options on campus. Overall, the shuttle’s technology needs to advance further to usefully meet the demands of a university campus and the expectations of its community members.”
The positives riders reported include:
Providing another option for traveling a hilly campus
Recognizes traffic lights and obstacles in the shuttle’s path
Safety features such as the hard braking and manual override
The UNC Charlotte program came after a similar one NCDOT studied at a Cary park. Both pilots concluded that the technology “is not mature” and is not ready to be mainstreamed or scaled as a conventional transit service.
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