The Villages, US is piloting AVs

In early 2018 self-driving startup Voyage announced the launch of a door-to-door self-driving taxi service in The Villages, a retirement community with over 100,000 residents - the largest in the US. The Villages started as a small mobile house park in 1980s and has grown to encompass more than 750 miles of roads, 40 square miles of land, a 500,000 thousand square-foot town center, and a dozen grocery stores.

Voyage’s initial tests featured a fleet of Ford Fusions outfitted with company’s self-driving technology. The fleets were supported by 3D mapping technology from Carmera, a Brooklyn-based location intelligence startup. In June 2018, Voyage entered into a second partnership with car rental company Enterprise to deploy a fleet of Chrysler Pacific mini-vans at The Villages.

Before making their way to the sunshine state, Voyage conducted a groundbreaking pilot in 2017 in a San Jose retirement community with some 4,000 residents.