Trenton MOVES, The World Grooves

Trenton is the capital of New Jersey, and boasts a storied history involving George Washington, pesky British colonizers and the Battle of Trenton. It was also a multi-industry manufacturing powerhouse in the 19th and 20th century, churning out steel, construction, cable and rubber products which powered the automotive revolution and made possible some of the most iconic structures in the United States – the Golden Gate, George Washington and Brooklyn suspension bridges to name a few.

It is now launching a different revolution, specifically to make transportation affordable, convenient, time-efficient, green and practical in urban locations which are transportation challenged and car ownership per household is minimal (0 or 1).

MOVES (Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicles Equity System) is designed to eliminate transportation inefficiencies that exist in various under-served communities in the state. Starting with a 2-year pilot program in Trenton, the goal is to expand deployment of autonomous, electric, on-demand and shared transportation to other areas in New Jersey. The experience will also be invaluable for technology companies engaged in autonomous vehicle development. To date, over $200B has been poured into such efforts globally, with not much to show by way of practical deployment, profits and social impact. MOVES offers a pathway to all of these, and the experience will help participating players to perfect their technology, gain consumer acceptance and expand beyond New Jersey into other locations in the US and abroad. MOVES will groove the world!

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) announced its first set of funding ($5M) in a community meeting organized at Trenton Central High School. In attendance were NJDOT Commissioner (Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti), the Mayor of Trenton (Reed Gusciora), Trenton Public School Superintendent (James Earle) and Professor Alain Kornhauser (Professor of Operations Research at Princeton University, and Director of the Center for Automated Road Transportation Safety or CARTS). A number of local residents and school students attended as well. They are important stakeholders in MOVE and expected to engage as customers and operational staff as the program evolves. This will help build a customer pipeline, ensure community engagement and develop technical and leadership skills that can be leveraged beyond the initial deployment in Trenton.

The initial funding tranche is to be used to develop detailed plans for the 2-year pilot program, with engagement from the community, NJDOT, the City of Trenton and technology partners. Trenton makes sense as the first city to deploy the program. The main public players (NJDOT, Princeton University) are close neighbours. Although public transit is reasonable in the area (buses, trains), they are on fixed routes and schedules. Car ownership/household is low. As a result, transportation options are currently limited or expensive (time and money). As Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti stated, “access to micro-level transit beyond the neighbourhood” is needed to help people maximize opportunities for medical care, childcare, education and employment and provide a critical link to access cultural, entertainment and social experiences. MOVES addresses these imperatives.

Participation from private technology companies is critical to make MOVES groove. Having public entities that create a welcoming environment and infrastructure for these companies to deploy their technologies is certainly attractive. An engaged community and customer base that has a real need and ownership in making these efforts successful (versus resisting them as as happened in other areas where autonomy trials are seen as a threat or obstacle) is compelling. Maybe the single biggest advantage for the technology companies who are successful in the current RFEI (Request for Expression of Interest) and subsequent RFP (Request for Proposal) process is the ability to deploy and learn about the advantages, opportunities and challenges that autonomy faces when deployed in communities that value the service they provide.

To date, almost all technology companies have run their autonomous vehicle trials without interacting directly with their competitors. There seems to be an assumption that multiple companies can and will operate autonomously with each other in the future without any problems. However, this is not a given (think about multiple telephone companies having to interact with each other in the early years of unregulated telecommunications). Depending on how MOVES progresses, there are opportunities for two or more technology companies to deploy, creating opportunities for shared experiences, cooperation, interfaces, competition and delighting customers. The learning and competitive benchmarking that results will enable them to leverage these experiences into profitable operations on a global stage.