The RTS shuttle will take riders through downtown for free.

The days of dreaming about riding in a self-driving vehicle in Gainesville are no longer a thing of the future.

In just a few months, Gainesville residents will be able to travel downtown in an autonomous shuttle for free.

The city has been gearing up for the venture as part of its partnership with the University of Florida and state’s Department of Transportation.

On Thursday, city commissioners authorized the city manager to execute a contract worth up to $2.7 million, funded by FDOT, with an autonomous vehicle manufacturer to launch the city’s first self-driving shuttle. The shuttle will be an extension of the city's Regional Transit Systems bus service. The cost will cover the vehicle and its three years of operation.

“It’s certainly going to be something that is a novelty, especially with activities going on between campus and downtown,” Commissioner Helen Warren said. “I’m going to be looking forward to testing it out myself.”

RTS Director Jesus Gomez said the shuttle, coined Gainesville Autonomous Transit Shuttle (GAToRS), will be a three-year project that will start in April 2018. Currently, there are no other municipal autonomous shuttles operating in Florida.

The projected route will start at the old Regional Transit System station, next to Depot Park on Southeast 10th Avenue, go through downtown and across Southwest 13th Street, though that could change at some point.

Gomez said the manufacturer, Transdev Services, serves more than 200 other cities across the country, has projects established in at least 19 other countries and has been responsible for about 200 million passenger trips in traditional cars and buses.

Company spokesperson Mitun Seguin said Transdev has no autonomous vehicles in routine operations anywhere in the United States, but is operating them in Europe. It's first self-driving shuttle in routine service in the U.S. is expected to be on the road in January at Babcock Ranch, a new town under construction in Southwest Florida

During the Gainesville test run, the shuttle will be free for riders and will be available 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Travel time is expected to be between 10 and 20 minutes.

The shuttle hold 12 people — six seated and six standing — and will be wheelchair accessible. It will travel at a speed of 11 to 25 mph along the route. No bicycles will be allowed on the shuttle because they could interfere with the sensors, Gomez said.

In November, Las Vegas rolled out a similar self-driving shuttle, built by Navya, which was involved in an accident on its first day on the road. The accident, however, was not believed to be caused by a malfunction of the shuttle.

An operator is expected to sit in the vehicle during the beginning of the rollout, but will eventually not be used. The shuttle will depend on sensors and GPS technology to coordinate its route safely.

Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos said the pilot program will establish Gainesville as one of the first cities in the country with a self-driving shuttle feature.

“This will be an incredible step for our city and I’m incredibly excited about this project,” he said.

Commissioner Harvey Ward said it is easy to look at the shuttle as a “cool toy, but it’s so much more than that.”

“It’s a simple, easy way to move folks around in thriving parts of our community,” he said.

After the pilot program ends, City Manager Anthony Lyons said, the city officials will look at other available options and technologies, or decide to continue and expand the project. He said he would like to use the shuttle as an education tool that teaches people about autonomous vehicles and to accept them as a reality.

If successful, Assistant City Manager Dan Hoffman also said the project will speed up the process of seeing more self-driving cars on the road.

“The sooner we get to that, then the sooner we see a reduction in vehicle fatalities, the sooner we reach our ‘vision zero’ goals, the sooner we end DUIs.”

Contact reporter Andrew Caplan at andrew.caplan@gvillesun.com.