ORLANDO, Fla. – The Swan Shuttle in Orlando’s Creative Village is accepting riders once again.
Tuesday was its first day back on the road after the city of Orlando, BEEP and LYNX decided to halt services on Nov. 4, 2023.
This came after the autonomous shuttle was involved in a minor crash with a LYNX transit bus while operating in its dedicated bus rapid transit lane downtown. There were no injuries, but the shuttle did have minor damage.
During the shuttle’s absence, the city of Orlando said it initiated a thorough review and found the shuttle attendant onboard was one of the factors that contributed to the cause of the crash.
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BEEP worked with the National Highway Traffic Safety Association to make changes that will prevent future crashes.
Some of those changes include retraining attendants with robust new standards, implementing processes that reinforce attentiveness at potential interaction points along that route, and providing additional resources on board for complex scenarios.
News 6 reporter Treasure Roberts took a ride on the shuttle on Tuesday.
She learned one new addition on the ride is a second shuttle attendant, whose job is to assist the primary operator by scanning their surroundings, among other tasks.
There was one hiccup on the trip. A vehicle was parked in the reserved bus lane and didn’t move for about 30 minutes, causing the shuttle to stall.
The shuttle attendants immediately alerted the company representatives and their partners to rectify the issue.
After the vehicle moved, the shuttle service resumed, and from there, the trip was seamless.
On a typical day, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete a full trip.
The shuttle operates on a geo-fixed route that can’t deviate off of the path by itself.
The operators said the goal for the future of autonomous shuttles is that they won’t be needed at all.
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