May Mobility and Bedrock will deploy a fleet of fully-autonomous electric shuttles within the Central Business District.
The shuttles will transport close to 18,000 employees in the district between their offices, parking sites, events and other downtown destinations.
"Detroit is at the forefront of technology and innovation, which is why it makes perfect sense for the first fully-autonomous shuttle route to launch in our city," said Jay Farner, CEO, Quicken Loans.
This is the first commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles on public roads in America.
"As a company dedicated to advancing mobility for a more livable, walkable and accessible community, Michigan-grown May Mobility made the ideal partner to further this mission," said Jim Ketai, CEO, Bedrock. "These autonomous vehicles will allow us to lead the nation in providing memorable and efficient transportation methods for our residential, office and retail tenants."
May Mobility maps, tests, and adds environmental sensors to routes block-by-block, which can help solve parking, traffic and land management issues for municipalities, developers, and business customers across the U.S.
As part of the expansion, May Mobility has opened its first office outside of Ann Arbor at 601 Franklin in Detroit. From this location, May Mobility will provide full-time operational support for the Bedrock Bricktown route, store and charge the shuttles, and coordinate future route expansion.
The shuttles, which will be Generation II Magna vehicles, will officially begin transporting passengers on June 27.
