THE EVE: THE RIBBON IS CUT The future of mobility is happening right here, right now in Jacksonville.
“NAVI will change the quality of life and help make Jacksonville a destination for all,” said Joe Moye, vice chairman and founding CEO of BEEP, an AV consulting company that custom built the JTA’s NAVI fleet to the Authority’s strict specifications. “Nat Ford had the vision and pursuit of excellence. That was the driving force that got us not just testing to deployment, but back to vehicle determination, retrofitting and manufacturing, said Greer Johnson Gillis, the JTA’s Chief Infrastructure and Development Officer. “His vision was if we’re going to do this, we’ve got to do it right and it’s got to be beneficial for the public and the community.”
Friday, June 27, 2025, will go down in history as the day the JTA officially gave the green light for the U 2 C program to begin. With the snip of a ribbon before a packed audience that included JTA leaders and partners, City of Jacksonville officials, the V2R team, HOLON executives, Jacksonville stakeholders and influencers, the media, and many others, the JTA introduced to Florida, the US and the world, NAVI. On the following Monday, June 30th, the Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation (NAVI) service would begin traveling a 3.5-mile distance along the Bay Street Innovation Corridor in Downtown Jacksonville. As the first-generation vehicle in the JTA’s U 2 C program, the NAVI is a testament that the JTA refuses to be stuck in neutral. The 14-vehicle NAVI fleet consists of electric Ford-eTransit vehicles integrated with an OXA automated driving system. Many cities have tested the technology, but the JTA is the only public transit authority in North America that has moved from ideation to completion and full deployment of an autonomous vehicle program. Members of the V2R team also credited the JTA’s bold vision for being a model and early adapter for how to deploy AV’s while simultaneously boosting the economy. For HOLON to choose Jacksonville to build its first American manufacturing plant was icing on the cake.
ULTIMATE URBAN CIRCULATOR – A CASE STUDY | 37
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