Just before last Christmas (2021), I was stopped at a traffic light in Fishers, the Indianapolis suburb where I live. The odd vehicle in my rearview mirror (as seen above) looked like a mapping car from Google. It had sensors and cameras mounted all over it. I took a picture and did some research when I got home. Turns out it was a free autonomous shuttle serving downtown Fishers. Despite my thought that downtown Fishers did not need a shuttle service, I contacted the company to apply to “operate” the shuttle. A few weeks later, after background and drug testing, I found myself sitting in front of my computer attending the first day of 3 weeks (!) of training with 2 other new hires and 2 trainers.

During training, I learned that the shuttles are run by May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle company founded by research engineers at the University of Michigan. They partnered with Toyota as one input to their self-driving efforts. May Mobility has autonomous vehicles generating experience data in Michigan, Texas, Indiana, and also in Japan. The cars are heavily altered Lexus SUVs with 22 internal and external sensors, including LiDar, Radar, and video cameras. The trunks were filled with computer equipment, fans, and interface cables for charging and downloading data.

The drivers, or as they called us, Autonomous Vehicle Operators or AVOs, are present to act as ambassadors for the Company, explain the technology, and take over driving if the shuttle needs assistance. And oh, the shuttles did need assistance.

I’m trying to be kind here but the technology seemed light years behind the current leader in autonomous driving; Tesla.

May Mobility’s cars are designed to center themselves in the driving lane, creating an odd shuddering effect as they take curves or turns. And while the shuttle will stop at Stop signs and Traffic lights, proceeding when appropriate, it will not make a left turn which requires crossing a lane of traffic, so the AVO takes over. Laudably I guess, they are designed with safety as the number one priority. Unfortunately, this incapacitates the cars in many, many situations. They come to an abrupt stop whenever they detect any objects that were not programmed into the route, like a pedestrian walking on a sidewalk, or a car coming to a stop at a cross street, or a garbage can, or even a mailbox with its door open. It makes for a jolting ride, and after a while, you learn to take over in advance of the response just to keep things comfortable for the riders. Not that we had to worry about that though because on most shifts I had exactly none!

Fishers was an ill-conceived placement for the shuttles. Previously, they were deployed in downtown Indianapolis in and around the IUPUI college campus, which made great sense. But now they were running around the downtown area of a suburban town where everybody has a car. And this was not an on-demand shuttle.

May Mobility’s 3-mile shuttle route is programmed into the cars. Each of the 5 traffic lights on the route had a transmitter box installed to speak to the cars. There were 9 stops on the route, including several apartment complexes, but again, it was much easier to hop in a car to go to Target, or Starbucks, or the Library, than to wait on a shuttle to take them there, wait for another shuttle to follow their route to eventually get them back home. And, oh…it was winter. Not much going on downtown. The company was obsessed with having 3 shuttles out on the route at one time and worked hard to keep separation along the route. We were outfitted with headsets to keep in touch with each other and home base. Using CB-talk was kind of fun, but it heightened the ridiculousness of the endeavor. We were directed to hit the keypad and report unexpected reactions of the car but it soon became obvious that I’d be reporting sudden stops or stop sign malfunctions constantly, so I only reported serious stuff. I had to listen to many other Operators report everything, though.

Speaking of other ASOs, the staff here was unsurprisingly young. Most employees were in their 20s and nice people. The training took longer than necessary but was taken seriously. After a week of half-day video training, we graduated to live training in the vehicles. The initial schedule assigned me as an observer each day for my 4-hour shift; 2 hours with one driver, 2 with another. As this was in January of 2022, still in the throes of the pandemic, I expressed my concern about being locked in a car with so many different people. I asked to ride with 2 people max for the week. They agreed and revamped the training for all sites to address this oversight. Still, toward the end of the week, I got a text from my trainer saying that he just tested positive for COVID. Ugh. Two days later I had a runny nose and scratchy throat that lasted a couple days. It was very minor (thanks vaccine and booster) and I would question whether I actually had COVID if not for the fact that I immediately gave it to my wife.  I took the week off and returned to another 2 weeks of driver training with the corporate trainer. Much too long, but he was a nice guy and we had a nice ceremony where I got this nifty certificate!

An aside about my trainers and the other the 20-somethings I met there: Again, very nice people, but chronically uninterested in others. After a short period, I knew the personal situation of probably 10 people; their marital status, where they lived, grew up, went to school, kids, pets, hobbies, and dreams. I like to delve into personal histories (and too often, offer unsolicited advice), but these people had absolutely no interest in me; the oldest guy by a lot. Not sure if this is a generational trend or just an outlier, but I’m leaning toward the first. Ah well.

So, how does this autonomous experience compare to a Tesla? Well, Teslas are all built with the hardware for what they call Autopilot as well as Full Self Driving. I have only paid to unlock the software for Autopilot, which is like advanced Cruise Control. The car will steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane. It has eight cameras which achieve a 360-degree view of what’s around the car. The software interprets and visualizes on the screen other cars, trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians, stop signs, stop lights, speed-limit signs, street directional markings, even traffic cones and garbage cans.

Teslas are not easily intimidated. If the lane is clear, they will not slow or stop for any of those things (the way the May shuttle does). Also, the May shuttle tops out at 25mph while in autonomous mode while the Tesla encourages drivers to be near the current speed limit. Lastly, as I mentioned, the May shuttle is programmed exclusively for its route, while the Tesla will perform on any roads that are well-marked. I tried the Tesla out on the shuttle route and it out-performed the May shuttle by a ridiculous margin, although I don’t have the software for the turns. I had promised the managers rides in my car since they hadn’t been in a Tesla yet, but after seeing how superior the experience was on the route, I decided I didn’t want to depress them.

Now, to be clear, I am not really a fan of autonomous driving. Not only is the technology, even Tesla’s, far from where it needs to be, but our infrastructure has a lot to be desired. Lanes are not consistently marked, pavement is uneven, lanes abruptly begin and end, etc. Traffic circles are a challenge that I’m not sure can be overcome. I never feel safe in traffic using Autopilot so I rarely use it. I think SAFE Full Self Driving is a pipe dream at this point. 

Well, Fishers finally figured out that although the autonomous shuttle sounded cool and forward-thinking, it was completely unnecessary and a bit foolish. They canceled the contract after only 4 months.

Unemployed again.

Thanks for reading.

Next up: Drug Stories: Lamictal

• Uncategorized