May Mobility‘s goMARTI autonomous vehicle (AV) service in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has served more than10,000 riders since its launch in September 2022. The service operates in an environment known for extreme winter weather and steep snow banks.
The goMARTI service, a collaboration between May Mobility, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), The Plum Catalyst and the city of Grand Rapids, aims to provide an accessible transportation option that complements existing services. It includes wheelchair-accessible vehicles and operates during evenings and weekends.
According to MnDOT rider surveys, 98% of riders have expressed positive feelings toward the service, as well as feeling safe in the vehicles.
The service uses multipolicy decision making (MPDM) technology, which analyzes thousands of possible scenarios in real time and makes safe decisions. May Mobility says the service has collected data from over 160,000 miles of driving, particularly valuable from snowy conditions, which has helped in developing algorithms for safer autonomous driving.
“Our autonomous vehicles handled the challenging weather very well, showing that MPDM was able to handle situations outside our training set,” said CEO Edwin Olson. “With the priceless data from these 10,000 riders, we will be able to continue to improve our goMARTI service and help communities across the country solve some of their hardest transportation challenges.”
goMARTI includes approximately 70 pick-up and drop-off points, such as grocery stores, medical sites and community centers. The fleet consists of five autonomous vehicles, three of which are wheelchair-accessible.
Kaylien Miller, the 10,000th rider, highlighted the importance of the service for individuals with mobility issues: “I have an autoimmune disorder called lymphedema. It’s really hard to walk around without my legs stinging. If I didn’t have goMARTI, then I’d constantly have to depend on my parents for rides to work, rides around town and to hang out with my friends because I don’t have a license.”
Efforts are also underway to expand the goMARTI service’s hours of operation, service area and the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles to better serve the community.