A report from a resident advisory committee called for using such shuttles along with demand-response rideshares, bus rapid transit and personal rapid transit, such as the Ultra Pod PRT<\/a> in London\u2019s Heathrow Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n Milo was already in place when the report came out and was taking riders from parking lots in the entertainment district to larger venues using EasyMile vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n As that service ended the following year, the city partnered with Drive.ai to bring the autonomous vehicles to the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think the EasyMile vehicle works well in low-speed settings, but it wasn\u2019t really designed to be on-street or driving with traffic,\u201d Foss said. \u201cSo, we were excited to move on to the Drive.ai pilot and be able to be on the street.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Drive.ai program was easy to drop into the existing foundation set by Via, the city\u2019s human-driven, on-demand service established just a year before, Foss said.<\/p>\n Once again, the program ended after one year of operations. The service provided a total of 760 rides without incident, according to a city press release<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Drive.ai was bought<\/a> by Apple after the program ended and folded into the company\u2019s failed Project Titan<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ditching the training wheels<\/p>\n In 2019, city leaders caught wind of a new federal grant that could allow them to run an expanded pilot program using knowledge gained from Milo and Drive.ai.<\/p>\n Officials made their case for what would become RAPID alongside representatives from Via, the University of Texas at Arlington, and May Mobility, a Michigan-based autonomous vehicle company.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt just kind of clicked,\u201d Daisy Wall, the director of business and policy at May Mobility, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2020, the city of Arlington struck gold as it received a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Integrated Mobility Innovation program, which awarded more than $20 million nationwide.<\/p>\n The North Central Texas Council of Governments, or NCTCOG, also helped foot the bill through a program aimed at<\/a> spurring automated vehicle usage in the area.<\/p>\n Nearly $1.2 million of RAPID\u2019s initial funding was from nonfederal sources, according to a fact sheet<\/a> from the Federal Transportation Authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n By March 2021, the May Mobility fleet used for the newly funded project departed and began the RAPID pilot program.\u00a0<\/p>\n RAPID\u2019s deployment<\/p>\n The initial deployment included five vehicles<\/a> \u2014 four Lexus RX450s and one Polaris GEM electric vehicle, which was used for those who needed wheelchair accessibility.<\/p>\n Each car was deployed in a defined area near the UT-Arlington campus and downtown. The rideshare service was free for UTA students.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city added RAPID as an option to its Arlington Transportation app as it integrated it with other on-demand services.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you booked a ride, and the parameters of the ride matched with the RAPID service, you would get a standard human-driven option and the autonomous RAPID option,\u201d Foss said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Generally, more than 75% of riders chose the RAPID option if available, Foss said.<\/p>\n After two years of federal funding, the NCTCOG became the sole grantor for the program. During the same timeframe, May Mobility swapped its original RAPID fleet out for four Toyota Sienna vans.\u00a0<\/p>\n The program officially ended on May 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lessons learned and the future of autonomous transportation in Arlington<\/p>\n RAPID helped not only the city but the nation take a step forward with autonomous vehicle technology and understanding, officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n UT-Arlington tracked various data for the program, from ride usage to survey responses. Overall, more than 95% of passengers said the vehicle felt safe, Foss said.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the vehicles were self-driving, they still had a driver who would take control of the vehicle when needed. RAPID itself had an 80% autonomous rate, according to Natalie Bettger, NCTCOG\u2019s congestion management and system operations project manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n RAPID gave roughly 113,000 rides in its four years, Bettger said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cArlington RAPID was an important step in advancing autonomous vehicle deployment in real-world conditions while building public understanding and trust,\u201d Bettger said in the statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the RAPID pilot program has ended, autonomous vehicles will return to Arlington soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Uber and May Mobility announced plans<\/a> to offer an autonomous vehicle ride service sometime during the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wall said a formal announcement on the timing of the new private partnership will come in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Bettger and Foss pointed to completely autonomous vehicles as something their two respective organizations were looking at.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI still think we are a little bit away from getting to that point on a large scale,\u201d Foss said. \u201cBut all of the services we\u2019ve had and the testing we\u2019ve done have helped us move in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n City officials are committed to finding out how to use new technology to improve transportation in Arlington, Foss said. That includes possibly incorporating it into long-term plans for on-demand services.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is, as autonomous technology continues to mature, that we\u2019re able to start incorporating autonomous vehicles in a more substantive way into that fleet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Chris Moss is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/articles-milo-08-11-17-05.jpg\")
Arlington\u2019s autonomous shuttle service, Milo, ran from 2017 to 2018. (Courtesy photo | City of Arlington)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Articles_Drive_Ai_05-23-19.jpg\")
The Drive.ai program in Arlington was the city\u2019s first on-street autonomous vehicle program. It ran from 2018 to 2019. (Courtesy photo | City of Arlington)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Arlington-RAPID-Service-Area-Map.png\")
RAPID vehicles were confined to an area around the UT-Arlington campus and downtown. (Courtesy photo | City of Arlington)<\/p>\n
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