Navy Yard’s autonomous shuttle will start transporting people in 2024

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation’s (PIDC) autonomous vehicle shuttle pilot for visitors and Navy Yard employees will be launching in early January.

PIDC first announced the project in February 2022 in partnership with Virginia-based Perrone Robotics. The project’s testing phase started about a year ago. At the time, officials called it the first AV shuttle project of its kind in Pennsylvania.

PIDC is also partnering with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, AECOM, Drexel University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, and the City of Philadelphia for this project. Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission provided a grant from its Travel Options Program to fund the project.

“This venture stands as a testament to the transformative impact of collaborative innovation, blending public and private sectors to forge pathways in advanced, safety-enhanced transportation,” said Paul Perrone, CEO and founder of Perrone Robotics, in a written statement. “As we roll out the TONY [To Navigate You] AV driver on Philadelphia’s vibrant streets, we’re not just navigating roads; we’re charting a bold course for future cities in the United States and across the globe. This is more than a project; it’s a mobility revolution, and we are proud to be at its helm with world class partners.”

During the testing phase of this pilot, PIDC and its partners familiarized themselves with Perrone Robotics’ technology for the electric, zero-emissions shuttle, Jacob Dillon, director of marketing and communications at the Navy Yard, told Technical.ly.

Perrone built a custom shuttle for the Navy Yard that was programmed to learn the campus layout and specific routes. Each shuttle during the pilot phase has a human operator on board, too. Over the last two months, the partners have been testing the shuttle around campus and training operators to make sure the shuttle knows the routes and abides by traffic laws.

“[The operators] are familiar with how the system works,” Dillon said. “They’re familiar with … the safety overrides, they’re familiar with all the routes, just to be that last piece of safety on there.”

When the autonomous shuttle launches in January, it will be incorporated into the Navy Yard’s existing shuttle service. The first phase of implementation will see it driving people around the campus to select stops. Eventually, PIDC hopes to expand the AV shuttle service to a wider loop of the Navy Yard campus, and between NRG Station and the Navy Yard.

The project is “a real stepping stone on how to do autonomous shuttles in a larger scale,” Dillon said. This pilot program at the Navy Yard may be expanded to other parts of the city and run by other agencies, Dillon said. He added that having a human face associated with the shuttle via the operator will hopefully make people more comfortable with the technology.