The idea of driverless vehicles in Greenville County has been circulated for years — but now, millions of federal dollars have been pledged to a new system that would begin to bring them to public roads.

The Federal Highway Administration has awarded Greenville County $4 million in grant money to develop an “automated taxi” system that would be the first of its kind in the nation.

“These funds will help Greenville County lead the nation into a future with more driverless vehicles, which will improve mobility for some and reduce traffic congestion for all," Acting Federal Highway Administrator Brandye L. Hendrickson said in a press release.

The release states that “county officials will use the funds to deploy an integrated system of ‘taxi-shuttles,’ known locally as ‘A-Taxis,’ on public roads. These are driverless taxis providing shuttle service to and from employment centers — expected to improve access to transportation for disadvantaged and mobility-impaired residents.”

The county on Thursday described the plan behind using the money at a media event at Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research, where the first car will be in operation as a test run for expanded service.

"We're going to crawl before we walk, and we're going to walk before we run," said County Councilman Fred Payne, who for years has led the charge for a “Personal Rapid Transit” system.

The first automated vehicle being used at CU-ICAR resembles a golf cart.

County Council Chariman Butch Kirven said the technology used for driverless operation will be tested and can be applied to larger vehicles for bigger plans down the road.

"Don't think all future vehicles are going to look like golf carts," Kirven said.

In August, a group known as Carolinas Alliance 4 Innovation released a document detailing a proposal for a three-phase program, which county officials outlined Thursday.

The use of automated vehicles would start service at CU-ICAR, spread to the affluent Verdae area and later expand to the lower-income Parker community.

The report states that a group called the Global Autonomous Vehicle Partnership has committed up to $2 million to match Greenville funds to deploy various autonomous vehicles on public roads.

The first phase, described as "Phase Zero, CU-ICAR AMD," would deploy the first A-Taxis at CU-ICAR.

Part of that phase would deploy one A-Taxi at CU-ICAR for initial validation, then provide shuttle service to students and faculty between CU-ICAR and the Center for Manufacturing Innovation along Millennium Boulevard.

It would extend A-Taxi shuttle service along Millennium Boulevard to Hubbell Lighting, TD Bank Corporate Campus, apartment complexes, hotels, restaurants and the Whole Foods shopping center at Woodruff Road.

The first phase would include collecting and analyzing data to improve AV adoption and identify Automated Mobility District infrastructure criteria.

The second phase, "Phase I Verdae AMD," would then "validate the A-Taxi shuttle business model."

In that phase, the system would "automate new shuttles for service in the Verdae community (upscale residential, retirement, and commercial area with 5,000 residents)."

It would also enlist manufacturing partners to deploy two to six larger autonomous vehicles on fixed and variable routes throughout the community.

As part of that phase, Verdae management has committed $1 million to build a community mobility center that links A-Taxi routes with multi modal transport options, including a Swamp Rabbit Trail extension, currently underway, from downtown to CU-ICAR.

The third phase, "Phase II Parker AMD," would "address two nationally significant

problems using A-Taxi shuttles."

The phase would involve partnering with Greenville County EMS to provide non-emergency medical transportation to disabled, elderly, low-income and other transportation-disadvantaged people.

Adapted EMS vehicles would be deployed in the Parker AMD, "one of the 10 poorest

census tracts in the United States" with an average per capita income of less than $20,000 per year.

The phase would address the "last/first mile" issue, which involves "mobility and access from home to daily activities, a major challenge for U.S. transportation systems in low-density areas. Many residents can’t afford a car, and bus stops to work, school, medical

clinics, grocery stores, etc. are out of walking distance."

Goals are to gather ridership data, accelerate rider adoption of AV, and develop a “playbook” for AV adoption worldwide as soon as possible before 2040.

The $4 million grant must be matched by local funds.

Payne said that donors have pledged support and now the county must ask for checks.

Both the Greenville County Council and Greenville City Council passed resolutions in 2016 supporting Greenville “as a pilot site for the research, development, testing and deployment of multi-modal, intelligent automated transportation systems and management technologies.”

"With the political support behind us, that gave us a lot of headway," said Doug Webster, board chairman of the Carolinas Alliance 4 Innovation.

In 2014, a study of personal rapid transit options commissioned by the Greenville County Economic Development Corporation, which was formed in 1999 to buy abandoned rail lines to ultimately to develop the Swamp Rabbit Trail, showed that a PRT system would likely attract four times as many riders as a bus, making the system economically viable.

The report estimated ridership on an elevated PRT system from downtown Greenville to CU-ICAR as 676,000 a year.

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