Is U2C serious? Help me make it make sense....

[Charles Hunter]

CM Diamond is now the JTA council liaison? That's not good for any NAVI supporter.

True. Depending on how he uses is "liaison" role - acting like an almost-board-member, or just reporting back and forth between Council and JTA - could also bode ill for any other transit initiatives - street car, light rail, etc.

[Tacachale]

CM Diamond is now the JTA council liaison? That's not good for any NAVI supporter.

True. Depending on how he uses is "liaison" role - acting like an almost-board-member, or just reporting back and forth between Council and JTA - could also bode ill for any other transit initiatives - street car, light rail, etc.

Yeah, it's not good for anything involving investment in transit, roads or walkability.

[MakeDTjaxGre@tAgain]

Not necessarily. He will have a strong voice in the matter, but I think he's all for saving tax payers money where he can and vote down anything that goes against it based on his track record and it not deemed a necessity.

Public transportation is a necessity. We all want to see the city be great - if they want the case he would not be there. How it functions and the people it serves is totally different. Navi goes 3 miles down one street with barely anyone using it, OOO suck and it cost aLOT of money.

I think he would be open to rail or street car if it serves the greater population rather than another "skyway to nowhere" ya know? The numbers all have to work.

Might be a psychological thing, but people are more interested and invested when they're in charge from my experience. Better sense of pride. So I think he'll work to get Navi axed, but also take a look at the raw data to come up with a viable option that extends pass downtown if it's worth it. Else we're bus only for a while.

Ps. Anyone heard from heights unknown lately? Haven't seen him post in a while is all. *smoke signal*

[marcuscnelson]

I think he would be open to rail or street car if it serves the greater population rather than another "skyway to nowhere" ya know? The numbers all have to work.

I admire the optimism but at the same time, Rory Diamond has been in office for seven years now and if he had any interest in transit (especially while representing the Beaches, where plenty of residents and visitors need to get around) he'd have said as much at any point, as Jimmy Peluso has. To the contrary, Diamond has been very consistent in his insistence on funding road construction, while denigrating rail.

[marcuscnelson]

Obviously it was upstaged by other news, but JTA celebrated NAVI's first year of service last week.

https://www.jtafla.com/media-center/press-release/jta-celebrates-one-year-of-navi-service-demonstrating-the-future-of-autonomous-public-transportation/

During its first year of operation, NAVI has transported over 15,200 passengers and traveled more than 61,000 miles in autonomous mode without a safety incident caused by the autonomous driving system. The service carried 989 riders in May 2026 alone, reflecting growing public adoption and confidence in autonomous transportation.

Worth contextualizing that there were about 20 days of NAVI service in May (no weekend service and I don't believe it was running on Memorial Day), meaning that 989 riders reflects about 49 riders per day. It's unclear whether NAVI is included in JTA's statistics provided to the American Public Transportation Association, assuming it is not means that NAVI carried in a full year of service fewer people than the Skyway did in January 2026 alone or JTA's bus services carry on an average weekday.

They also prepared a video, showing off the many official junkets and delegations that have visited NAVI and the AIC:

[iMarvin]

49 riders an hour would be abysmal, so to see JTA celebrate 49 riders a day is pretty sad. Hopefully whoever takes over can kill this project immediately.

I still think the best path for JTA is revitalizing the Skyway name with a new automated light metro system. Surface-running light rail doesn't make sense in a city as sprawling as Jacksonville, and the costs are similar once you decide to build elevated rail. The ROW already exists for a line up to Gateway and Beach Blvd is wide enough for a line to the Beaches. If they're going to spend $300 million on transit, they need to get it right. They could actually build a decent starter line assuming they get an even state and federal funding match.

[thelakelander]

I think he would be open to rail or street car if it serves the greater population rather than another "skyway to nowhere" ya know? The numbers all have to work.

I admire the optimism but at the same time, Rory Diamond has been in office for seven years now and if he had any interest in transit (especially while representing the Beaches, where plenty of residents and visitors need to get around) he'd have said as much at any point, as Jimmy Peluso has. To the contrary, Diamond has been very consistent in his insistence on funding road construction, while denigrating rail.

From a strategic perspective, he won't be in that position long enough to do anything transformational other than assist in driving a nail into NAVI's coffin. Jax is years away from anything related to LRT. Diamond will be long gone when that day arrives.

[Charles Hunter]

Some quick takes from the JTA media release.

15,200 passengers over 61,000 autonomous miles
-- that's one-quarter of a passenger per autonomous mile

"The service carried 989 riders in May 2026 alone, reflecting growing public adoption and confidence in autonomous transportation."
The 15,200 passengers over 12 months gives an average of 1,267 per month. So the month "reflecting growing public adoption and confidence" carried 22% fewer passengers than the average month.

[jaxlongtimer]

If Holon fails to deliver a plant here, I can't see U2C lasting even a day later.  It was the only card Ford really could play with anyone.  Nothing else close to positive can be said about it.  Even if Holon finally shows up, U2C may self destruct with high costs, failed technology and no real market for its alleged "less-than-mass transit" capabilities.

LOL, bragging that there were "no safety incidents" should be attributed to the presence of humans co-driving the vehicles, not AV tech.  JTA's failure to note that is a great demonstration of their whitewashing this project.

[marcuscnelson]

Also came across this video of a live presentation JTA executives put together for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials during a visit to Beep's Lake Nona headquarters:

Includes some interesting details about how NAVI operates (or doesn't). Can't say the NHTSA officials seemed particularly impressed, compared to whatever was on their phones...

[thelakelander]

I could have sworn there was a NAVI crash incident that made the local news a few months ago. I wonder why it wasn't included in the safety data.

[Charles Hunter]

I could have sworn there was a NAVI crash incident that made the local news a few months ago. I wonder why it wasn't included in the safety data.

You are correct, sir.
Here's a lengthy report from the Eye on Jacksonville blog: https://eyeonjacksonville.com/explanation-for-first-driverless-van-crash-is-a-bit-wobbly/

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority's latest attempt at the "future of mobility," took a detour – straight into a light pole.

No one was physically injured. The only casualty? JTA's creditability.

According to Action News Jax, JTA claimed "an error on the driver's part" caused a NAVI to hop a curb and slam into a light pole.

That got my attention.

I submitted a public records request for all the juicy details.

Within a few hours, JTA sent over a four-page accident report and a three-page investigation report from Beep Inc. Both seem to suggest America's first fully autonomous public transit system comes with a driver and a scapegoat.

According to JTA's report, the driver said he "glanced down briefly at the brake pedal," while the vehicle was in autonomous mode, and that's when NAVI hit the curb and grazed two light poles. JTA stated they'd need to check the Automated Driving System (ADS) logs to confirm whether the shuttle was really in autonomous or manual mode during the incident.

Well, they checked and everything's cool on their end.

I found a passing reference in a longer Action News report on "safety and schedule" concerns over NAVI.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/schedule-safety-concerns-with-jtas-new-navi-service-no-rides-game-days/E3ETWDD66VANLDRA7RZ3A2LSNY/

In fact, only Action News Jax discovered the shuttle has already had one fender-bender with a rider on board. The transit van jumped the curb and hit a light pole. Internal reports show it had been switched back and forth between autonomous and manual modes and a driver was at the helm at the time. Records also show that while the driver got fired, police were never called, though it knocked a mirror off and dinged city property.
...
JTA responded to Action News Jax's question regarding the crash, saying that it was due to an error on the driver's part.

"We are confident in the safety of our NAVI service. Of all the NAVI trips taken and over 6,000 riders we've served since the June 30 launch, there has been one incident which resulted from human error."

Since it was "driver error" the crash wouldn't count as occurring during "autonomous operation."

[Tacachale]

I think he would be open to rail or street car if it serves the greater population rather than another "skyway to nowhere" ya know? The numbers all have to work.

I admire the optimism but at the same time, Rory Diamond has been in office for seven years now and if he had any interest in transit (especially while representing the Beaches, where plenty of residents and visitors need to get around) he'd have said as much at any point, as Jimmy Peluso has. To the contrary, Diamond has been very consistent in his insistence on funding road construction, while denigrating rail.

Yeah, Diamond has made it clear over his years on council that he opposes pretty much anything involving transit and investment in infrastructure. On the other hand, he's not a serious person, so the damage he can do is somewhat limited in his final year on City Council.

[Charles Hunter]

Yeah, Diamond has made it clear over his years on council that he opposes pretty much anything involving transit and investment in infrastructure. On the other hand, he's not a serious person, so the damage he can do is somewhat limited in his final year on City Council.

Tachacale, or anyone who knows - Diamond is term-limited as a District Council Representative. Could he run for an At-Large seat next spring? Or is the limit "eight consecutive years on the City Council"? Which means that Jimmy Paluso will only get one term At-Large, when (if) he wins.

Personal opinion - the term limit should be two terms, period. Despite how much I appreciate Matt Carlucci being on the Council (about to be term-limited, again), I don't like the "sit out a term and come back" aspect of the current limit.

[jaxlongtimer]

Wonder what happens to U2C when Waymo, Telsa or Amazon show up with their robotaxi's?  20 million rides, a single additional funding round of $16 billion following many earlier rounds, 4,000 vehicles and growing.  U2C doesn't hold a candle to all this.  It is pure insanity.  Not even a David vs. Goliath.  More like an ant vs. a elephant.  I predict a $400 million write-off. 

Waymo to start driverless rides in 4 more U.S. markets as expansion accelerates

Waymo will begin rolling out its driverless vehicles in four new cities in the coming weeks, furthering its U.S. expansion and building on its lead over domestic rivals Tesla and Zoox, which is owned by Amazon.

Alphabet's robotaxi division will soon start offering fully autonomous rides in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, Florida, and Denver, the company said Wednesday. While the launch will initially be for Alphabet employees, the rollout will then extend to the public.

Waymo, which first announced the expansion plans last year, currently operates driverless cars in more than 10 cities. While Waymo has a big head start in the market, Tesla  and Zoox are both slowly pushing into new cities. Zoox is preparing to launch its robotaxi service to some members of the public in Austin, Texas, and Miami later this year, and Tesla is going beyond Austin into other parts of Texas as well as to Miami.

As of May, Waymo's domestic fleet included about 4,000 robotaxis equipped with the company's fifth- and sixth-generation automated driving systems, according to filings with U.S. auto safety regulators.

Waymo's latest announcement comes as the company confronts challenges that are arising as more of its cars hit the road. Some of its vehicles have driven into flooded roadways following extreme weather events, and during the Fourth of July celebrations, a number of vehicles in San Francisco were stuck in traffic for so long that their batteries died, while another was seen driving into fireworks.

In February, Waymo raised $16 billion from Alphabet and other backers. The company plans to begin service in London, its first international market, later this year, having driven more than 20 million overall autonomous rides, with its sights set on hitting 1 million weekly trips by the end of the year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/08/waymo-starts-driverless-rides-in-san-diego-las-vegas-tampa-denver.html?&qsearchterm=waymo