Autonomous vehicles are being used to transport medical supplies and coronavirus tests for the first time in the USA.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has partnered with Beep and Navya to use autonomous shuttles to facilitate the safe transport of COVID-19 tests collected at a drive-through testing site to a processing laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Florida.
On Monday, 30 March 2020, up to four autonomous shuttles began operating along an initial route, in full autonomous mode without attendants or other people onboard, to transport COVID-19 tests.
The test samples are placed in secure containers prior to Mayo Clinic healthcare professionals loading the samples onto the shuttle.
“During a time of rapid change and uncertainty, the ability to think innovatively alongside the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Navya, and Beep during the pandemic has strengthened all of our teams through community collaboration,” said Kent Thielen, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic in Florida.
“Using artificial intelligence enables us to protect staff from exposure to this contagious virus by using cutting edge autonomous vehicle technology, and frees up staff time that can be dedicated to direct treatment and care for patients.”
The JTA, Beep, Navya and Bestmile partnered to create, test and deploy the routes for the autonomous vehicles at Mayo Clinic to address the fluid developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The routes are isolated from pedestrians, traffic and staff. Beep, Mayo Clinic and the JTA will monitor the service from a mobile command centre to maintain safe operation.
Autonomous shuttle fleet service provider Beep transported the shuttles through Eagle Express from Lake Nona, Florida, an innovation hub 150 miles away where the company is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
An additional shuttle is being utilised from the JTA’s Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) programme.
The JTA has tested autonomous vehicle technology since 2017 to prepare for a conversion and expansion of its Skyway automated people mover in Downtown Jacksonville into a network powered by autonomous vehicles.
Étienne Hermite, CEO of Navya, said the use autonomous vehicles to safely transport and handle the COVID-19 samples is an example of how these vehicles can be repurposed in times of need.
“The opportunity to work together with these organisations in an effort to provide a dedicated COVID-19 testing solution represents our goal as a company, and that’s to create a more accessible solution in the moments that matter, whether that be crisis, shortage in manpower and resources, or other areas we can provide aid in,” said Hermite.
