The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is offering free rides on Minneapolis’s autonomous shuttle bus Friday through Sunday. The bus runs downtown at Nicollet Mall from 3rd Street to 4th Street from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting.
The bus has been undergoing testing throughout the state and is the product of a partnership between MnDOT, First Transit, Easy Mile, and 3M.
Currently, the bus is undergoing winter-weather testing at MnDOT’s MnROAD, a closed loop facility. The bus will be tested for its performance in cold weather, ice, snow, and on salt-covered roads. Testing began in December and will end in March.
“The rides will help the public see how autonomous-vehicle technology works and experience what will someday be mainstream in the way we travel,” MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle said. “We invite anyone interested in this kind of technology to see for themselves what the future of transportation will be like.”
Other than safe operations in winter weather, the testing has five goals. It intends to identify challenges and strategies for safe operation, to prepare mobility services, to identify the infrastructure needed for autonomous vehicles, to enhance partnerships between the state government and the autonomous-vehicle industry, and to increase Minnesota’s influence in the industry.