THE PERFECT STORM Completion of Blueprint 2020 initiatives was not the end- of-the-road for JTA advancements and milestones to provide outstanding service, stimulate the economy, and improve the quality of life for people in Jacksonville and its environs. While Jacksonville and the rest of the world was shut down during COVID to help stop the spread of the virus, the JTA kept moving in other, innovative ways to help the community. “The most important thing we did happened long before there was any mention of COVID. We developed an organization that recognized its importance to the community far beyond building roads, bridges or enhancing public transit,” said Ford. “We developed a spirit of community builders whose role is to truly improve the quality of life.” “So when the pandemic showed up the team was positioned to think ‘how do we go beyond to help our community successfully survive this life-changing pandemic?’ Employees at every level thought about how they could do what they needed to do in their respective positions, and help the community at the same time.” The answer for the Automation & Innovation Division was to put the U 2 C program to the ultimate test by deploying autonomous vehicles where they were most needed. After talking with Ford, the JTA’s VP of the department, Bernard Schmidt, called the Chief Innovation Officer at the esteemed Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Dr. Charles Bruce, in March 2020 to ask if the Authority could help. The JTA believed it could relieve some of the work of Mayo’s essential medical personnel by using
autonomous vehicles to transport COVID-19 tests and samples from a laboratory at one end of the sprawling Mayo campus to the other. The operation would free up the medical staff that was working nonstop to perform other life-saving tasks. It would also reduce the risk of Mayo workers contaminating samples or contracting the virus. Mayo Clinic officials readily agreed with the idea and a partnership was formed that was a first in the nation. Within one week, Mayo gave the JTA the green light to proceed. Immediately the Automation & Innovation Division set up a mobile command center on the Mayo campus to develop the logistics and mapping needed to program U 2 C vehicles to make the runs. The cars, already positioned in place, were manufactured by Beep and NAVYA. Every day, from April through July, the JTA’s fleet of bright blue autonomous vehicles coasted up and down the campus transporting samples to the lab. The team accomplished in one month what would typically take several months to coordinate and implement. During a period of four months, four AVs drove 200 miles making 227 runs with 30,000 COVID samples at Level 4 autonomy that did not require any attendants to be on board during the operation.
18 | ULTIMATE URBAN CIRCULATOR – A CASE STUDY
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator