JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thursday is a major milestone for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. It’ll open its Autonomous Innovation Center.
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The retrofitted Ford Transits are not a forever answer. Just Tuesday, JTA’s board approved the purchase of up to 100 new autonomous shuttles from Holon, a company coming to Jacksonville.
The shuttles come with a big price tag, and some people questioned the use of tax dollars for these shuttles.
Action News Jax got video of one of the existing shuttles around downtown Jacksonville. But in a couple of years, they could be replaced with something entirely new.
Up to 100 autonomous vehicles are set to be ordered by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority from Holon.
“I think it would be good for residents because it would cut down on a lot of traffic downtown. It would be convenient for people to go back and forth,” said Edward Lowry, who lives in Jacksonville.
The price tag for the initial batch of Holon shuttles? $409,000 per shuttle.
“That’s a lot of money for shuttles. But the idea of it is terrific, you know, compared to the way the city is built and stuff. But yeah, that’s a lot of money,” said Jody Thomas, who lives in Jacksonville.
“I think that will improve efficiency. We have a lot of venues here. So it’s very great for that. Yeah. Very good for venues because I work at them, and we always complain about parking. I work in all the venues, the arena, the performing arts, the convention center, the stadium and, yeah, it is very good if they offered that,” said Thomas.
But Thomas will have to wait years before she can ride one of the Holon vehicles.
JTA said those vehicles won’t be available until 2027. That’s because Holon doesn’t even have a manufacturing facility in town yet.
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