City Approves AV Program for Seniors and People with Disabilities, Detroit, MI, 2023

The Detroit City Council has approved a new autonomous vehicle (AV) shuttle program geared for people with disabilities and people ages 65 and over. Residents not eligible for traditional paratransit services are eligible for this new AV service. Detroit’s Office of Mobility Innovation will oversee this program in partnership with the Michigan Mobility Collaborative (MMC) and May Mobility. Specifically, the City of Detroit has a $2.4 million contract with May Mobility to operate the vehicles for this program. MMC, a collaboration between the City of Detroit, AECOM, the American Center for Mobility, Deloitte, Urbanite, Knight Foundation, Mcity at the University of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), and Wayne State University, will design, test, and research much of this pilot. This service is planned to launch in Spring 2024 officially. Between now and then, partners are performing outreach activities, vehicle safety testing, and mobile application development. MMC plans this service to be on-demand, much like other AV shuttle programs in peer communities.

The City of Detroit supports this project through an Automated Driving System Demonstration Grant from the US Department of Transportation and philanthropic dollars from Knight Foundation and the Delta Dental Foundation. At this time, this pilot is funded to operate through 2026. AV technologies are widely being tested in microtransit-type efforts, much like what is planned for in Detroit. Depending on the scope of this deployment, Detroit’s AV program can be a valuable effort in enhancing mobility choices for seniors and people with disabilities. Moreover, this pilot project can establish best practices for AV projects in large cities.

Last updated August 4, 2023