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Little Roady

Little Roady
Location
Providence, United States
Date
From to
Length
8.52km
Project details
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What

The Little Rowdy Project brings the first self-driving shuttles to Rhode Island. The fleet of electric vehicles offers rides along a 8.52 km route in the Woonasquatucket River Corridor of Providence, with 12 stops between Providence Station and Olneyville Square. This initiative engages the community, stakeholders, and policy-makers in research and planning for the future of transportation.

Why

The Little Roady shuttles are provided by May Mobility, which entered into a public-private partnership with RIDOT, following a competitive request-for-proposals (RFP) process.

After the initial year of service, RIDOT has the option to extend its agreement for service with May for up to two additional years. The company has hired over 50 fleet attendants and site managers/supervisors from Rhode Island and the region. Their local office and operations centre is located on the route in Providence.

Budget & financing

  • $500,000 grant awarded by the R.I. Attorney General’s Office as part of a settlement with Volkswagen and $ 300,000 coming from Federal Highway Administration.

  • Federal Highway Administration research fund

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Lexicon

7 words explained

platooning

Also known as flocking. A collection of (automated) vehicles that travel together, actively coordinated in formation. Platoons decrease the distances between vehicles using electronic, and possibly mechanical, coupling. Platooning allows many vehicles to accelerate or brake simultaneously.

urban setting

High density environment with an efficient high capacity public transport system with good capillarity and high frequencies.

suburban setting

Medium density environment with a good public transport system with radial connections to the city center, but lower capillarity and frequencies. This setting includes suburban cities.

small cities

Small, isolated city with an own public transport system and <100K inhabitants.

rural

Low-density environment, small cities and villages with poor public transport services mainly connecting the villages.

SAE level

The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) levels define the level of vehicle autonomy, or in other words, how much human intervention is still needed for an automated vehicle to operate. Currently, five SAE levels have been defined: Level 0: Automated system issues warnings and may momentarily intervene but has no sustained vehicle control. Level 1 (hands on): Driver and automatic system share vehicle control. The driver must be ready to retake full control at any time. Level 2 (hands off): The automated system takes full control of the vehicle (accelerating, braking, and steering). The driver must monitor the driving and be prepared to intervene immediately at any time if the automated system fails to respond properly. Level 3 (eyes off): The automated system takes full control of the vehicle (accelerating, braking, and steering). The driver must monitor the driving and be prepared to intervene immediately at any time if the automated system fails to respond properly. Level 4 (mind off): As level 3, but no driver attention is ever required for safety, e.g. the driver may safely go to sleep or leave the driver's seat. Level 5 (steering wheel optional): No human intervention is required at all. An example would be a robotic taxi.

V2X

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication is the passing of information from a vehicle to any entity that may affect the vehicle, and vice versa.