Vision for a Better Jacksonville: Autonomous Vehicles In June 1989, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), opened the first segment of the JTA Skyway, an elevated people-mover in the heart of downtown Jacksonville. The Skyway’s automated technology was a groundbreaking invention. It was one of only five systems of its kind built in the United States with the other four in Miami, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Irving, Texas; and Morgantown, West Virginia. The Skyway was conceived as the answer to the congestion in Jacksonville’s urban core, but before the system was fully developed to traverse a 2.5-mile corridor downtown, the area began to decline. In 2000, voters approved a $2.25-billion Better Jacksonville Plan that called for road and infrastructure improvements, environmental preservation, targeted economic development, and new or improved public facilities. The end goal was to revive Downtown Jacksonville by making the city’s key corridor – Bay Street – the epicenter to live, work, and play with business, history, culture, art, education, and entertainment at its core. It is into this equation that the concept of bringing modern autonomous vehicles (AVs) into the mix became the laser-focused vision of the JTA. After years of extensive testing and development, the vision became a reality in June 2025 when the JTA became the first public transportation authority in North America to fully deploy autonomous vehicles. The launch of the JTA’s Ultimate Urban Circulator (U 2 C) vehicles occurred exactly 36 years after the June 1989 launch of the Skyway, bringing the past, present, and future full circle.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Background ................... 4 2 Laying the Foundation......10 3 Vision in Motion............. 20 4 The Future is Here.......... 28 5 Launch........................ 36 6 Economic Impact............ 46 7 Lessons Learned............ 50 8 Awards and Recognition... 56
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