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

[Charles Hunter]

Annnnd ... [anticlimatic drumroll, since we already knew this]

From ActionNews Jax
Schedule and safety concerns with JTA's new NAVI service: No rides on game days

An engineer who worked closely with the project told Action News Jax the U-turn in front of the stadium is a major risk and the special traffic patterns for all the extra cars would likely confuse the technology.

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/schedule-safety-concerns-with-jtas-new-navi-service-no-rides-game-days/E3ETWDD66VANLDRA7RZ3A2LSNY/

I think the Jaxson reporter who rode during the first days of the U2C commented on the U-Turn at the stadium.  Where is this U-Turn? Looking at the G-aerial, there's a nice large signalized triangle designed just for making east-to-west U-turns on Bay Street - between Lot D, the Hart Ramp, and the WJCT lake.

And the changes will "confuse the technology"?

I do not doubt that is a (the) major issue. Also, that a dozen 7-passenger vans aren't going to make a dent in game-day traffic, even if JTA could get them all to run at the same time.

Then, there's this

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.

Doesn't state law require reporting of crashes causing damage to public property?
And, it wasn't the tech, but the driver there to protect us from the tech?


Ande, I still can't believe the Guv's DOGE team didn't flag this as "waste" in their review of the COJ budget. Or that those City Council members that vote to cut Meals on Wheels and programs for the marginalized don't take aim at this massive waste. Maybe, if someone whispered to certain councilmembers that the U2C is a "DEI" project ...

[jax_hwy_engineer]

it just keeps getting worse...

it's all completely predictable, but MAN, when are JTA going to finally admit the emperor had no clothes and kill this stupid thing?

amazing to me that it already had an accident. The thought of it running on game day or during special events was its ONLY redeeming use case to me, what a joke! I would laugh if I weren't so busy crying...

[CityLife]

I have no doubt there are safety concerns on gameday, but by hiding the NAVI's, JTA will be limiting the number of people that will see how ridiculous and useless they are. Plus they won't have egg on their face when ridership numbers and revenue generation are low even on gameday. I'm sure they are more than happy to hide them on gameday...

Would anyone have authorized this years ago if they knew that in 2025, JTA would be using sprinter vans that have a driver and cannot operate at night or in crowds?

Right now the Navi's operate from 7am to 7pm. Will they be switching to 5:30pm after daylight savings in November?

[jaxlongtimer]

Emerald Trail getting chopped by JTA while it continues to spend hundreds of millions on useless U2C.  Insane.  Which would do more for Downtown and the urban core? Talk about misplaced priorities!

JTA to suspend design, construction of portions of the Emerald Trail

A $147 million federal funding cut has thrown Jacksonville's Emerald Trail off course, forcing city leaders to halt work on key segments that would connect some of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority confirmed to the Business Journal it will pause design and construction of trail sections in Robinson's Addition, Durkeeville and the Eastside until new funding is secured — a move that could delay promised infrastructure in low-income neighborhoods already wary of being left behind.

While officials say resources will be focused on segments around the downtown core, the setback raises questions about priorities and how to keep momentum on a 30-mile project billed as transformative for Jacksonville's urban core.

After the federal government's One Big Beautiful Bill Act wiped out $147 million in funding, local officials voiced frustration and launched an urgent search for replacement dollars.

Since then, some leaders have shifted from disappointment to tough choices — suggesting certain trail segments be shelved until new money can be secured.

.....Officials have pointed to the gas tax, a 30-year revenue stream that has $132 million slated for the Trail, as a reprieve from the federal funding loss. JTA has earmarked $4.7 million toward design of segments three and four of the trail in Fiscal Year 2026-2027 to connect it with existing paths in the city's park system.

The JTA Board has dedicated $38.8 million from the Local Option Gas Tax to segments three and four over the next five years, a JTA spokesperson said. The segments eligible for gas tax funding in the city's legislation are three, four, six, seven and eight, Ehas said, which includes segments of the trail where work faces a planned pause.

But deciding on which segments will receive that money remains up in the air.

Gas tax money is allocated by the JTA Board of Directors, and 16 other projects, including the ultimate urban circulator, are designated for funding from the tax as well.....

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2025/09/08/emerald-trail-segments-put-on-pause.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=BN&utm_content=JA&ana=e_JA_BN&j=41466236&senddate=2025-09-08

[urban_]

Emerald Trail getting chopped by JTA while it continues to spend hundreds of millions on useless U2C.  Insane.  Which would do more for Downtown and the urban core? Talk about misplaced priorities!

Infuriating. Maybe this will be an opportunity to re-evaluate priorities in city council and finally kill U2C. Or, even to just re-allocate funds to Emerald Trail and bleed U2C to death. Embarrassing.

[thelakelander]

You can't pause what you haven't started. Design isn't supposed to start until 2027 or so for these segments. There may be some confusion within this article regarding the status and timeline of various segments of the overall trail project.

[jaxlongtimer]

You can't pause what you haven't started. Design isn't supposed to start until 2027 or so for these segments. There may be some confusion within this article regarding the status and timeline of various segments of the overall trail project.

I didn't post the full article due to length.  Below is another piece.  My take is there is nothing on the horizon to complete a number of segments, mostly in the low income areas of the City that were looking at the Emerald Trail to improve their neighborhood quality of life and more.  There is concern they may never get built now.  So, it could be a permanent "pause."

...During a recent City Council finance committee meeting, Council Vice President Nick Howland proposed ditching design efforts entirely for the trail in Robinson's Addition, Durkeeville and Eastside while searching for new funding.

"... let's not waste money on designing those spurs, sections six, seven and eight, until we know we're going to have funding, because otherwise we might be pouring money into, for example, a path to nowhere," Howland said at the meeting.

Howland said it would be more efficient to prioritize the area that loops around the downtown core, which he said are segments one, two, three, four and nine.

But Howland acknowledged suspending work on other parts of the trail would leave Robinson's Addition, Durkeeville and Eastside out of the Emerald Trail plan if leaders failed to find more funding.

[thelakelander]

From a GW Jax board member perspective, I'm not too concerned about Howland's proposal. Design for those segments are a couple of years down the road. Who knows where we're at with funding at that point or if that funding is coming from COJ anyway. Its too early to be talking design anyway when you don't even know what the routes through those neighborhood will be. The PD&E phase is underway now. When it is done, we'll have a better idea of what will actually need to go into design in the future.

[jaxlongtimer]

Amazon's robotaxi, Zoox, update... billions of dollars and started in 2014 (5 years after Waymo) with more years to go... Loaded with tech execs from Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, Silicon Valley companies and Stanford ... JTA have any of those on its team?  Amazon is pouring billions more in with years to go, being very patient for the long haul. 

Does anyone expect Jax leaders to be that patient and invested?  Are Jax leaders paying attention?!!  Other than Waymo, this tech is years out for these people and likely NEVER for JTA! 

Amazon's Zoox jumps into U.S. robotaxi race with Las Vegas launch

Five years after its splashy $1.3 billion acquisition of Zoox, Amazon  has officially entered the U.S. robotaxi race, which to date has been dominated by Alphabet's  Waymo.

Zoox's first public launch kicks off Wednesday on the Las Vegas strip. The company is offering free rides from a few select locations, with plans to expand more broadly across the city in the coming months. Riders will eventually have to pay, but Zoox said it's waiting on regulatory approval to take that step.

Amazon is jumping into a market that's all about the future, but one where Waymo has a major head start, having offered commercial driverless rides since 2020. Earlier this year, Waymo said it surpassed 10 million paid rides, and the company now operates in five cities, with Dallas, Denver, Miami, Seattle and Washington, D.C., coming next year.

Tesla , meanwhile, began testing a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, though with human supervisors on board.

But unlike Waymo and Tesla, Zoox's electric robotaxi doesn't resemble a car. There's no steering wheel or pedals, and the rectangular shape has led many in the industry to describe it as a toaster on wheels. Zoox co-founder and technology chief Jesse Levinson says, "We use robotaxi or vehicle or Zoox."

"You can shoehorn a robotaxi into something that used to be a car. It's just not an ideal solution," Levinson told CNBC in an interview in Las Vegas. "We wanted to do that hard work and take the time and invest in that, and then bring something to market that's just much better than a car."

Zoox was founded in 2014, five years after Google formed the project that became Waymo. Following Las Vegas, the company said it plans to debut an early rider program in San Francisco before the end of the year. The company has been testing a fleet of 50 robotaxis in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Austin and Miami will be Zoox's next locations, the company said. Zoox will soon begin testing robotaxis in those markets, and said it's already driving retrofitted test vehicles in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Seattle.

"We think it's very, very early days, and the future is not written yet," said Levinson, during a demo ride with CNBC.....

....Safety has been a big challenge in the robotaxi industry's short history.

Prior to Uber selling off its AV division in 2020, one of the company's test cars collided with and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in 2018. General Motors said it would no longer fund its Cruise division in December. Cruise's robotaxi business became engulfed in scandal in 2023 after one of its cars dragged a woman, who was knocked into its path, for 20 feet in San Francisco.

"Our bar is not being perfect. It's being significantly safer than a human," Levinson said. "Our safety record so far is very much consistent with being significantly safer than humans."

Levinson said Zoox is starting out with free rides to get the word out, before turning its attention to making a business out of it.

"Obviously we have a path to do that or else it wouldn't make sense for Zoox to exist," said Levinson. In terms of timing for profitability, Levinson said, it's "not weeks from now, it's not decades from now. So somewhere in between."....

....Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry, said that given the hefty costs of building and operating a full robotaxi service, "It's probably going to be at least 2030, or maybe later, before any of these businesses are actually profitable."

Amazon insists that it's willing to be patient. The company has poured billions of dollars into Zoox since the acquisition in 2020, and finally gets to show the public what's in store.

"One of the things that I feel Amazon doesn't get enough credit for is that it's very good at picking some long-term big bets and actually making them happen," Evans said. "We're setting out to show that, yes, this is real, and it's coming to you."

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/10/amazons-zoox-jumps-into-us-robotaxi-race-with-las-vegas-launch-.html

[Charles Hunter]

Can someone point Rory Diamond at the U2C?
Tell him that U2C is code for DEI - or something.

[thelakelander]

Can someone point Rory Diamond at the U2C?
Tell him that U2C is code for DEI - or something.

PLEASE!!!!

[jaxlongtimer]

I would think if Waymo could navigate airports to/from, it could easily navigate Jax Downtown.  So, why is JTA trying to start from scratch again and blowing over $400 million to fail (see Tesla failures after spending hundreds of billions)?

Waymo obtains permit to test robotaxis at San Francisco International Airport

Alphabet-owned Waymo obtained a permit to start testing its robotaxis at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and the company announced Tuesday.

Waymo will partner with the airport to roll out its commercial robotaxi service in phases, "beginning with employee testing soon ahead of welcoming Bay Area riders," company spokesperson Chris Bonelli told CNBC.

That means the robotaxis will start with human drivers on board, ready to take control of the vehicles if needed, and eventually operate as a driverless ride-hail service....

...For its general robotaxi service, Waymo now operates in Phoenix, parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta....

...Tesla does not currently sell vehicles that are safe to use without a person in the car, ready to take over steering or braking at any time.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/16/waymo-permit-sfo-airport.html

[marcuscnelson]

Another day, another instance begging the question of why JTA sees itself as having a major role in this industry instead of focusing on what they're uniquely capable of:

Via, Waymo Team Up to Bring Robotaxis to Public Transit Systems

Via Transportation and Alphabet's Waymo are partnering to bring robotaxis to public transit, starting with a suburb of Phoenix.

The companies said Thursday that government agencies that use Via's software would now be able to offer Waymo's autonomous ride-hailing service in their public transportation networks in an effort to boost safety and eventually lower costs.

The partnership will launch this fall in Chandler, Ariz., which already partners with Via to offer shared, on-demand rides around a designated zone for a set price of $2 a ride. The service will now include Waymo vehicles among Via's existing fleet of vans.

Via's software is geared toward municipalities and transit agencies, as well as universities and companies with large campuses, looking to operate their transportation systems more efficiently with technology that designs transit routes and schedules.

It currently has close to 700 customers, about a fifth of which also enlist its help to actually operate those networks, with the company providing vans, drivers, marketing support or call centers. Some of those clients—especially those with sparse downtowns like Chandler, where traditional bus routes can be inefficient—use Via to offer shared, on-demand rides as part of their public transit.

Via expects that incorporating Waymo into those services will eventually bring down costs, helping its government clients to use taxpayer dollars more effectively, Chief Executive Daniel Ramot said. Public transit systems, and local governments in general, are often late to benefit from advanced technology, he added.

"It feels autonomous vehicles are the future of how we get around," Ramot said. "It would be great for cities to be early adopters of this."
Ramot hopes the partnership will eventually scale to hundreds of cities around the U.S., he said.

The partnership also aims to improve safety within public transit, he said, noting Waymo vehicles have a strong safety record. "To the extent that they can help increase safety and reduce costs, they're a very promising technology," Ramot said.

Via also works with autonomous-vehicle company May Mobility to offer rides in Peachtree Corners, Ga.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Contra Costa County, Calif.

The new collaboration between Via and Waymo comes amid a busy couple of days for both companies.

Via made its stock-market debut last Friday, rising 7.6% in its first day of trading, to close at $49.51, giving it a market value of about $4 billion.

Waymo, meanwhile, said Tuesday it is working with Lyft to bring its autonomous ride-hailing service to Nashville, Tenn., starting next year, adding the ride-hailing operator to its growing roster of partnerships. Waymo also works with Lyft's rival Uber Technologies, offering autonomous rides in Atlanta, Phoenix and Austin, Texas.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/via-waymo-team-up-to-bring-robotaxis-to-public-transit-systems-0870be39

[Ken_FSU]

Based purely on watching the drivers each day when I drive down Bay Street, I'm starting to suspect that the U2C is not running nearly as autonomously as presented. Almost every turn and stop appears to be human controlled. Also, broken record, but thing is a death trap down by the stadium exiting the Hart Bridge.

[Lostwave]

And they stop in front of Lot J and just sit there for minutes blocking a lane.  So frustrating.  They are creating bottlenecks by parking an empty van in a busy travel lane.