In a move that the self-driving connected vehicle technology company says will bring the code to the road, Oxa has launched its first commercial product, the Oxa Driver, in passenger shuttles in Jacksonville, Florida.
The service is operated by US fleet operator Beep in partnership with the Jacksonville Transport Authority (JTA) and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ).
The shuttles are part of the autonomous vehicle (AV) program licensed by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). They support JTA and FSCJ’s ambition to become autonomous transportation beacons as the college builds AV skills into its academic majors and the city begins major investments in autonomous transportation as part of the Ultimate Urban Circulator project.
The range of deployments of autonomous shuttles is wide – from catalyzing regeneration in downtown Jacksonville to serving science parks and well-established areas like Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida. Lake Nona is a 17-square-mile community known for integrating cutting-edge technology to optimize mobility and lifestyle options. This commitment to innovation has attracted multiple Fortune 500 companies. The area is based on a gigawatt network infrastructure and is home to Wave Lake Nona, which is celebrated as the most technologically advanced hotel in the world.
Other city services yet to be announced in 2024 will be a combination of private and public transport services using a variety of vehicle types from fully customized to retrofitted commercial platforms.
“This initiative is a testament to years of hard work and collaboration between the private and public sectors, including the US Department of Transportation,” said JTA Executive Director Nat Ford. “We are eager for the FSCJ campus and the greater Jacksonville community to experience these AVs firsthand to see the benefits they bring.”
The transportation services powered by Oxa Driver are being deployed in partnership with Oxa’s strategic US fleet operations partner Beep. The company operates programs in six states in more than two dozen communities and is a leader in the development of autonomy across North America.
“Our partnership with Oxa is off to a great start and we are very pleased with the results of our first autonomous shuttle in Jacksonville, in collaboration with our partners at the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Florida State College at Jacksonville,” added Beep CEO Joe Moye.
“Oxa Driver provides an enhanced passenger experience and enhanced operational capabilities to further improve safety.” We are excited to expand the deployment of this joint solution, with six additional locations currently planned for 2024.”
To put the launch into perspective, Oxa calculates that the passenger shuttle and industrial logistics arenas will form an addressable multibillion-dollar-a-year software market. This is based on the number of vehicles that can benefit from self-driving software, the potential revenue per vehicle, and the commercial and technological viability of the change.
The launch of Ox makes it the first and only UK company to export self-driving vehicle software ready for a global market rollout. Oxa Driver is designed to enable vehicle automation independent of human control, but the FSCJ route will use trained safety officers to increase confidence as passengers get used to the self-driving experience. The first launch will be followed by seven more with Oxa software in cities across the US and UK in 2024.
“The AV market is in a really interesting place as the number of innovators begins to dwindle in the battle of business and technology models,” said Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxa.
“My view is that AV technology will not be commercially viable in cars or taxis for another decade, so the focus should shift to mass movement of people and goods, especially shared passenger systems such as the FSCJ shuttle and industrial logistics. These sectors suffer from a severe driver shortage, but they also offer huge public and business benefits if they can be improved – and autonomy can now do this in a cost-effective way,” he added.