Plan Unveiled To Test Driverless Vans

The first driverless vehicles on New Haven streets won’t be passenger cars, but vans that shuttle eight to 16 people at ten to 15 miles per hour at Yale New Haven Hospital’s two campuses and parking facilities.

A non-automated human will ride along, just in case.

That’ futuristic picture that emerged Tuesday night at the regular meeting of the Traffic Commission as city transit chief Doug Hausladen briefed commissioners on an application the city is poised to submit to the state. The application is to participate in a pilot program to test how autonomous vehicles (AVs) will operate in ​“real-world” conditions.

Hausladen reported that in response to legislation passed by the state in 2017, the city, Yale New Haven Hospital, and the New Haven Parking Authority (NHPA) have become partners in applying to become one of four sites in the state to deploy and investigate and gather data and experience in operating AVs.

With funding provided by the NHPA, Hausladen has retained Stantec, a design and civil engineering firm, which just opened offices on Church Street, to lead the effort.

It’s strictly a testing and piloting effort for which the city is applying, Hausladen said.

If the city should succeed in its application, work would begin with research and training for the pilot this spring and conclude in 2021. Hausladen was at pains to point out that currently there are no funds or plans to implement a full program; that is in the future.

However, that future is coming.

Hausladen said Yale’s hospital campuses were selected as the locations to offer to try to qualify for the pilot because they represent ​“a large employer in the midst of the city and allows for real-world conditions.”

Click here for the full PowerPoint presentation made by Stantec Senior Principal Steve Abendschein.

Among his chief points:

• Each shuttle will be only 16 feet long, as compared to 40-foot buses.
• The vehicles will be battery powered, able to go for ten to 12 hours on a charge, carry eight passengers sitting and maybe another eight standing.
• Capable of going a maximum of 25 miles per hour, they will usually hop along at closer to ten to 15.
• There will be lots of redundant systems on board for braking and communications and a person on each vehicle throughout the pilot period.
• The debut routes — each of about 1.7 miles — will be similar if not identical to the current hospital shuttle routes, linking the medical facilities and the parking lots YNHH employees use.
• The routes were chosen for their simplicity, and minimal number of turns, encounters with pedestrian areas, and other maneuvers considered challenging for AVs.
• Fiber optic technology will enable the vehicles to interface with signals and traffic to make for efficient timing and flow.

Abendschein reported that among the challenges facing the AVs are dealing with lane changes and turns; figuring out where the charging stations will be; and where the vehicles will be stored.

When his report concluded, the commissioners and police officials present were intrigued, but also not short on questions and concerns.

Assistant Police Chief Racheal Cain said that if the AV shuttles are poking along MLK/Legion Avenue at ten or 15 mph, that well might make a lot of drivers unhappy, a potential problem.

Precisely the kinds of consequences the pilot study is intended to study, Hausladen replied.

Commissioner Donald Walker called Stantec’s Abendschein’s attention to the 5G fiber optic network, which he had said the system will be based upon, and reminded him that the city currently has only 4G.

“For a pilot, we have enough” at 4G, Hausladen replied. By the time a full system is implemented, 5G may be in place in the city, so the timing may be good for the plan longer term, Abendeschein added.

New Haven Urban Design League President Anstress Farwell, who was also in attendance, asked if the human operator would be on board only during the pilot or beyond.

“That’s unknown” at this point, Abendschein replied. ​“My guess is that there will be someone sitting there until lots of things are worked out.”

“Your route is one where we get lots of accidents,” noted Quinnipiac Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes, a retired police captain. ​“Will the vehicle stop at an accident?”

“There’s an onboard operator,” Abendschein replied.

“Also someone who can control it remotely,” he added. ​“There’s a lot to work out. For now we’re looking for simplified places to get it into the field.”

Another questioner asked what such a vehicle will cost if and when the city purchases one. The answer: $200,000 to $250,000.

What about jobs of drivers lost in the process? asked Antunes.

“AV vehicles threaten about three million jobs nationally,” replied Hausladen.

However, a driver of ​“legacy” — that is, human-operated — vehicles who lose a job may, through better AV-spawned transportation links and systems, be able to travel somewhere and obtain an even better job, Abendschein offered.

To whom does a cop talk when coming across an AV in an accident? asked Bruce Fischer, the city’s deputy transit director.

“Give it 30 days in the garage,” Antunes quipped.

Hausladen asked for the commissioners to offer other questions and feedback within two weeks to enable submission of the application to the state by May 19.

Commission Chair Anthony Dawson said he thought the presentation was well received by his colleagues. ​“Anything that makes it safer and easier to move traffic around, we’re interested in,” he said.

Hausladen said the presentation before the commissioners was the first of many he intends to do around town to keep people apprised of the AV pilot initiative.

Because there is no grant money involved, the application to participate in the state’s pilot program can go ahead without approval from the Board of Alders.