The Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Balfour Beatty Construction LLC submitted permit plans to the city for construction of the Autonomous Innovation Center at 650 W. Bay St. at a project cost of almost $40.54 million.
As part of the project, a two-story, 15,019-square-foot structure is designed on 1.28 acres on a site near Broad and Water streets in LaVilla as the nerve center for the JTA’s Ultimate Urban Circulator system of automated people movers.
It is referred to as the U2C.
JTA held a ceremonial groundbreaking May 29 for the center on the site near Broad and Water streets.
Plans show a ground floor with covered AV parking and a flex bay and lift bay.
The top floor comprises the control and data rooms, offices, a conference room and an exterior terrace.
The U2C is envisioned as a network of autonomous shuttles that will initially operate on a 3-mile route on and near Bay Street Downtown and expand to connect to Riverside, Springfield and San Marco.
The cost of the Bay Street phase, expected online next year, is $66.5 million.
The total cost of the system could reach $400 million.
Oxford University professor Paul Newman, founder of an autonomous vehicle software company, spoke May 30 at JTA’s State of the Authority event at the nearby Prime Osborn III Convention Center.
Newman, who pioneered AV technology, envisions the system helping transform transportation. His company Oxa produces the software for JTA self-driving vehicles being piloted at the Florida State College at Jacksonville Downtown campus.
He said AV technology gives every self-driving vehicle information from input gained during “every mile driven by every autonomous vehicle ever.”
The JTA and U2C proponents say it will provide convenient and inexpensive transportation.
Critics of the system say it’s too costly and that the small shuttles are not an effective way to move people.
JTA CEO Nat Ford said the U2C “creates a blueprint for cities in Florida as well as across the United States.” He said the benefits of the system reach into workforce development through an FSCJ program to train students in AV technology.
The JTA held events May 13 at the Main Library Downtown to update the community on the U2C, envisioned as a network of autonomous shuttles that will eventually connect to JTA bus terminals that provide regional mobility and replace the Downtown Skyway monorail system.
JTA staff and project contractors offered an overview of the U2C. A video presentation said the initial phase of the project, which will operate on and around Bay Street, will provide 14 shuttles on a 3-mile route with 12 stops. Plans call for the shuttles to run every seven minutes.
The shuttles will be fitted with radar and lidar – a light detection and ranging system – along with static closed-circuit TV cameras and other technology that will interconnect with sensors providing input on pedestrian and traffic movement, weather and other conditions.
Included in the Bay Street plan are 39 pedestrian sensors, plus high-tech traffic lights that include motion sensors. Ford said onboard safety attendants would be stationed on the shuttles for the first nine months to one year of operations.
Ford said JTA designed the system working with jurisdictional authorities, including the Florida Department of Transportation, the Downtown Investment Authority and JEA, to map out the system to minimize changes after it is built.
The cost of the Bay Street phase is estimated at $66.5 million, including $9 million for the Autonomous Innovation Center.
Two successive phases will involve adapting the Skyway elevated monorail into the U2C and expanding the system, pushing the estimated cost to as much as $400 million for a full build-out.
The center will include a rooftop solar microgrid that will supply power to recharge the shuttles, an education center for conversations about automated vehicle technology and electric vehicle charging stations that will be available to the public.
The community sessions included a station focusing on design of the central control system, which will be the connection point for the streams of information flowing from the vehicles and sensors.
Greer Johnson Gillis, a JTA senior vice president and chief infrastructure and development officer, said the system would allow operators to monitor for potential hazards and remotely control the shuttles accordingly.
Jordan Dowdy, a representative of the autonomous vehicle solutions company Beep Inc., said the system is being designed to be “vehicle agnostic,” meaning it will be able to interface with new AV technology as the field evolves. Beep has contracted with JTA to develop the system.
Gillis said the timeline calls for the Bay Street system to begin operations in June 2025.
The U2C has drawn criticism that it is overly expensive, relies on unproven technology and pulls funding away from other solutions that would more pragmatic. Among the critics is Council member Jimmy Peluso, whose District 7 includes the Bay Street corridor.
The estimated cost of the first phase has risen since January 2022, when JTA signed a $49 million contract with a consortium headed by Balfour Beatty LLC for the first phase of the project.