Beep Launches NAVI Fully Autonomous Public Transit System In Florida

Earlier this month Beep, Inc., a leading provider of autonomous shared mobility solutions, announced it has begun operating the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s (JTA) autonomous vehicle service, called NAVI (Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation).

Beep states that NAVI is the first fully autonomous public transportation system in the U.S. Backed by a five-year O&M contract, Beep will operate and maintain the NAVI service, which is part of the JTA’s groundbreaking Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) program.

In this first phase of the JTA’s U2C program, Beep will operate and maintain a customized fleet of fourteen electric, autonomous, Buy America and ADA compliant Ford E-Transit vehicles integrated with automated driving system (ADS) capability from Oxa. Beep’s proprietary technology will facilitate both vehicle deployment and command center operations from the JTA’s new Autonomous Innovation Center (AIC). The company says that the AIC is a first-of-its-kind for autonomous transit.

“Beep is proud to improve safety, expand access, and optimize public transit in Jacksonville with the first fully autonomous system in the nation. Building this system is a significant milestone to achieve fully sustainable, smart cities,” said Kevin Reid, Chairman of the Board and newly appointed CEO of Beep. “Our strong, long-term partnership with the visionary leaders at the JTA has laid the groundwork for the transformation of mobility and accessibility across the nation.”

Beep is all about the next generation of shared mobility services with driverless, electric, multi-passenger vehicles designed to serve both public and private communities, in rural as well as urban settings. Beep’s AV-agnostic supervision and management platform (AutonomOS™) enables operators and agencies to deliver transit-integrated AV mobility services at scale, providing for vehicle and cabin supervision, fleet orchestration, and integrated workflow management.

With data from many deployments leading up to this point, Beep has been able to utilize artificial intelligence insights and data learnings to enhance and advance the safety, rider experience, and operating capabilities of autonomous transportation platforms.

First and Last Mile Services

The City of Jacksonville is geographically large with low-density; therefore, the addition and integration of new NAVI vehicles aims to enhance efficiency and safety, offering more reliable first- and last-mile services and expanding access to more destinations and riders.

“The goal of the Ultimate Urban Circulator is to provide multi-modal transit options that improve the city’s health, economy, and environment,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford. “The launch of NAVI is a crucial step toward a smarter, more accessible, better-connected Jacksonville – a city that is defining the future of mobility.”

The vehicles will be deployed along the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, a 3.5-mile route in downtown Jacksonville with twelve stops from the Central Business Core to the Sports and Entertainment District. The routing aims to encourage downtown revitalization.

New Funding and New Leadership

Beep has also announced the closing of a $52.7M funding round co-led by Intel Capital and Blue Lagoon Capital. The company notes that this new financing brings Beep’s total capital raised to $97.7M. Funding will support expansion further into key markets.

Additionally, Beep’s Chairman of the Board, Kevin Reid, will succeed Joe Moye as Beep’s CEO. Reid is a longtime technology investor and executive with over two decades of experience building strong companies, teams, and leadership.

“Our continued investment in Beep reflects our confidence in their vision for building the next generation of public transit systems that reduce traffic congestion, improve rider safety, and expand accessibility,” said Mark Rostick, Senior Managing Director at Intel Capital. “As the company’s longtime chairman, Kevin brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the CEO role and is well-equipped to lead the Jacksonville program and Beep’s future expansion into new communities.”

Early Players Find A Niche

As noted above, Beep is relying on Oxa for autonomous driving. Oxa was one of the early players in fielding autonomy. Veterans of the autonomy space will remember Oxbotica, which was founded in the U.K. back in 2014 by professors at Oxford University’s Mobile Robotics Group. Their first autonomous passenger rides occurred in 2019 as part of the DRIVEN project. The company rebranded to Oxa in 2023.

The Way Forward For Public Transit and Autonomous Rides

According to Beep, NAVI represents the first fare-generating fixed-route application of shared AVs in the U.S. transit industry. The multi-year service is fully compliant with all transit-related specifications and fully integrated with all relevant public transit agency functions at the federal, state, and local levels.

The company emphasizes their uniqueness in focusing on autonomous public transit rather than single passenger rides, asserting the company “is uniquely positioned to eliminate congestion by managing, monitoring, and tasking autonomous vehicles more safely and efficiently.”

For years, robo-shuttle deployments around the world have been temporary research and demonstration pilots. They were great for a mayor or city council aiming to position their town as tech-forward. In some cases, the pilots produced insights on safety performance and/or user satisfaction. Across a crowded space, Beep has been front and center in the process, managing 38 autonomous shuttle deployments across nine states.

Others have had success in recent years as well, notably May Mobility. May deployed safety-driver based services as early as 2021 and began driverless operations in the Sun City, Arizona in 2023. With four sites across the U.S., the company has since transitioned operations in other areas to driverless. A deployment in Tokyo is in the works.

More recently, the VW-owned MOIA autonomous ridepooling service began small-scale driverless services in Hamburg – a major milestone for the European space. They are also conducting tests in Munich and Austin.

Whether Beep has scored an industry-first or not would require some hair-splitting in the arcane world of public transit. In the end, what matters is that autonomous shared-ride services have turned a corner through the establishment of fully funded multi-year contracts for moving people through cities. If robo-shuttles are able to provide greatly enhanced service (cost, convenience, personal safety) compared to today’s transit systems, we could see significant uptake by citizens and improvements in traffic flow and energy consumption.

Nevertheless, the number of deployments remain small. Watch the pace of expansion to assess how real this transition is within the stodgy world of public transit.