The Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Florida State College at Jacksonville agreed to expand the JTA’s autonomous vehicle program through testing and educational initiatives on FSCJ campuses.
The JTA board of directors approved a memorandum of understanding May 28 with FSCJ that includes expansion of the Ultimate Urban Circulator Test & Learn Program to FSCJ’s Commercial Driver’s License Test Track on the school’s Cecil Center Campus; development of an autonomous vehicle deployment on an FSCJ campus; and development of curriculum and educational initiatives.
“This partnership will provide innovative educational opportunities to the workforce in order to prepare our students for the next generation of automotive technology,” said John Avendano, FSCJ president, in a news release.
JTA is developing the U2C program, an autonomous vehicle network planned for Downtown and eventually to be expanded to other areas in Northeast Florida.
The U2C initially will leverage the existing Skyway infrastructure and expand that network through ground-level connections and convert those structures to support autonomous vehicles.
The first phase, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, is fully funded.