Driverless shuttles could be coming to DeKalb County city

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County city could soon take a big step towards bringing driverless shuttles into the area.

Chamblee could be the first city in the state to use self-driving vehicles for public transportation.

The city’s been studying this for the last two years and will vote on moving forward by applying for a grant at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

The hands-free, no-driver shuttles would focus on a corridor along Peachtree Road, within a mile of the Chamblee MARTA station.

A feasibility study and concept plan calls them SAVs, for “shared autonomous vehicles.” They look like a boxy, oversized van, and can carry between 8-to-16 people in the electric shuttle.

It “sees” the road using cameras, high-speed radar and 3D mapping.

It's similar technology to a Tesla that Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach got a test-drive in last year.

A stretch of North Avenue in midtown Atlanta is already a “smart-corridor” and lab for self-driving vehicles.

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Some of the same improvements would be needed in Chamblee, like pavement striping and upgraded traffic signals.

At the time, the self-driving cars still couldn’t communicate with them.

But Chamblee’s plan said despite safety concerns, the shuttles with a top speed of around 25 miles per hour would be safer, and a lot cheaper than running standard full-size buses.

The vote at the city council meeting is expected to move ahead, applying for a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund self-driving shuttles as part of a pilot program.

The routes of the driverless shuttles would link the MARTA station to major employers like the CDC on Buford Highway, Peachtree DeKalb Airport, as well as retail centers and a park.

Chamblee would find out if they get the grant this spring, but there’s no timeline yet of just how soon before the driverless shuttles could start running.

Cox Media Group