A free, autonomous, fully electric shuttle service launched on August 13th in Detroit. The State of Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, the City of Detroit, Bedrock, Michigan Central, and Perrone Robotics worked together to create the shuttle system, which utilizes Ford E-Transit vans. (Even though online there is a squishy, anti-EV narrative claiming all EV sales are down, Ford posted some information in July that E-Transits were selling well.)
Perhaps this fact is not surprising considering electric vans can be great for fleets that operate daily on shorter routes. In fact, for the recently launched free autonomous shuttle service in Detroit, they may be about perfect. Electric vehicles are much more energy efficient than vehicles that use fossil fuels, and in the Detroit shuttle use case, there will be multiple riders per vehicle. Of course, an E-Transit shuttle has no tailpipe and does not directly generate toxic air pollution, so that’s also a win for Detroit’s air quality.
It would be even more efficient and probably safer on rails, but I’m not going to argue against free pubic transportation in Detroit where there’s a lot of political influence in favor of individual vehicle ownership.
