Autonomous Vehicle Testing Rides Taking Place in Dublin
The City of Dublin has been coordinating with Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) on innovative technologies to improve transit access, enhance transit ridership experiences, and improve transit trip reliability. The advances in driverless or autonomous vehicle technologies presented an opportunity to achieve the goal of finding an innovative and cost-effective way to improve first mile/last mile connections to transit stations. In addition, the California Legislature enacted AB 1444, which provided LAVTA the ability for testing of Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAV) on City of Dublin public streets. The California Department of Motor Vehicles also adopted new regulations on February 28, 2018, for the testing of driverless autonomous vehicles on public streets.
The City of Dublin received grant funding in the amount of $385,000 from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) through the Innovative Deployments to Enhance Arterials (IDEA) program to support the Project. LAVTA was also successful in receiving a grant in the amount of $966,000 from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for the Project.
In Fall 2020, LAVTA completed its comprehensive testing of its state-of-the-art Shared Autonomous Vehicle (SAV). Following the testing process, the vehicle was certified for use on public streets by the National Highway Safety Transportation Safety Administration (NHSTA) and the public was invited to to take a ride on the SAV. The 10-minute ride included two stops and one traffic light, and took approximately 10 minutes. For more information on the SAV, contact LAVTA at www.wheelsbus.com/SAV.