By Irving Mejia-Hilario
Source The Dallas Morning News (TNS)
Dreams of self-driving cars in downtown Dallas seem more remote than ever after Cruise, General Motors’ robot taxi unit, stumbled when its chief executive resigned after its cars were taken off Dallas roads in late October and GM withdrew its investment.
But where Dallas is falling short, its neighbor to the west is picking up the slack. Through Arlington’s Rideshare, Automation and Payment Integration Demonstration Program, the city has implemented AVs from downtown to the University of Texas at Arlington’s campus fueled by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based AV company May Mobility.
Midwest AV unveiled its own in Arlington in March 2021, with the purpose of raising awareness of the concept of autonomous vehicles sharing the same roads as chauffeured cars, said Rob Carter, May Mobility’s head of visitor operations.
“I just inspire other people to go on a hike themselves and see if they like it,” she said. “I went into business and took a course on the generation of autonomous vehicles while running outdoors at school and became interested in the long duration of the automobile. I hope it will pique other people’s interest as well.
May Mobility’s fleet of four Toyota Sienna minivans uses the company’s multi-policy decision-making technology on its predetermined route network during each ride. It means the vehicle’s seven cameras and five sensors are helping run thousands of simulations on familiar roads to choose its next move.
May Mobility had a fleet of four Lexus RX 450h SUVs and an electric Polaris GEM, but moved to Siena in 2023 after finalizing its Series D investment round, which netted the company $111 million. NTT also subsidized May Mobility with a $75 million investment last month. .
On average, the company receives between 150 and 200 passengers a day, most of them UTA students, Carter said. According to the company’s latest estimates, May Mobility has made around 45,000 trips since its launch.
For UTA students and employees, the program is free and costs $3 for anyone else. People can use the May Mobility app Monday through Friday from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. M. A 8 p. m. to book a ride electronically.
Unlike Cruise, May Mobility doesn’t operate with a typical business model. Instead, it benefits from its $1. 7 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration and its partnership with the university, the city and New York-based Via Transportation, which drives the company’s business. application.
In turn, May Mobility doesn’t have to scrape together money from its fares to turn a profit, Carter said.
“We operate on grants. We don’t collect the ticket price,” he said. “Via helps us with the app and the ticket goes to the city. Our business operates as public transportation with local or federal funding, depending on the other types of grants available.
Arlington’s woefully deficient public transportation formula is one reason May Mobility was established in the city, Carter said.
“We’ve heard a lot of stories about other people who don’t have public transportation and the move from Arlington to Via was exclusive to providing rideshares to fill what the city was missing,” she said. “So now, to be on Via’s platform as The Independent Option is wonderful because we’re the ones who show up. “
Finding that Cruise’s downfall is due in part to protection concerns, May Mobility is trying to avoid the same mistakes by making its trips at a steady pace, Carter said.
“We have someone behind the wheel because we insist on safety,” he said. “Our maximum diversity speed is 30 miles per hour. We’re just slowly expanding the speeds we use.
Although you never see one of May Mobility’s cars on a highway, the company emphasizes its protection program, Carter said. Every time the company has new software, it has to run thousands of simulations before it sees a road. The company’s AV operators are also required to complete federal protection education programs, similar to those used by truckers across the country.
It hasn’t quite been perfect, though. The company has seen a few small fender benders across the country, but Carter said it’s to be expected as the technology and people learn how to share roads with one another.
“There will be conditions where there will be minor accidents,” he said. We absolutely prevent the symptoms and take turns carefully. So I think other people get used to the way our cars are driven and know that they shouldn’t rush, not pass around us or something.
May Mobility continues to expand, and with Cruise out of the way, Dallas could be one of its next destinations, Carter said. Currently, the company has operations in Arlington, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and Sun City, Arizona.
“We’ll have more announcements in the short and long term related to new cities and new operations, which is wonderful to see,” he said. “We’re going to intensify our testing to see how our generation can get through with and without a human operator. “
But for now, getting May Mobility’s name out there is the company’s top goal.
“We want to increase our visibility and make more people in the general public aware of what we do,” he said. “The turnout here has been wonderful and we see that academics love it. So it’s about capitalizing on the right demographic that needs to accompany us.
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