Hub OKs autonomous Optimus cars
A second self-driving car company will start carrying passengers in Boston soon and could eventually use its autonomous vehicles to help employees of Seaport companies get to work.
Optimus Ride, based in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in South Boston, was approved by city officials to carry passengers in its autonomous vehicles last week.
“There are places people definitely need to go, and there’s definitely a first- and last-mile problem,” said Ryan Chin, chief executive officer of Optimus Ride. “The Silver Line isn’t really cutting it at many times of the day. I think there’s an opportunity to rethink that.”
Optimus will start by carrying passengers only in the Marine Park but plans to expand further into the Seaport.
“Once we expand to a larger area, the destinations become more meaningful,” Chin said.
Optimus has been talking to other companies based in the Marine Park about giving rides and getting feedback from their employees. Autodesk, a San Francisco company that makes design software, has agreed to take part, Chin said.
Chin, while saying his company is not committing to any specific service, said it seems clear autonomous shuttles could help the Seaport’s transportation issues.
He said Optimus is using the Marine Park tests as experiments right now, but that will change eventually.
“We want to treat the Seaport, Ray Flynn area as our experimental playground, to test the technology, engage with users, and eventually some sort of commercial opportunity,” Chin said. “We’re not committing to any particular commercial service in the Seaport right now, but we are doing extensive public testing on roads, looking at first- and last-mile services and shuttle routes.”
Optimus Ride joins nuTonomy in carrying passengers in Boston. NuTonomy began giving rides to Lyft customers last year.
One of the challenges autonomous vehicle companies must deal with is how to convince the public to use and accept self-driving cars.
“What you need to focus on is user adoption,” Chin said. “The passenger movement is going to be critical for user feedback, and that will be not just in terms of ride comfort and interface, how people call a vehicle.”
Last year, Optimus Ride and the developers of Union Point, a minicity being developed on the former South Weymouth Naval Yard, said autonomous vehicles would be used to transport residents and visitors to and from the commuter rail station and within the massive development.
“Autonomous vehicles are one of the key elements to the development of Union Point as a smart city,” said Ryan Blackmon, an executive with LStar Ventures, the developer of Union Point. “We see these vehicles not only as an amenity for the people who visit and work and live at Union Point, but as a crucial step in our sustainability and decarbonization efforts.”