Retired General Motors engineer Ed Broutin loves living in Detroit with his wife, Barbara. The couple reside in a high-rise on Lafayette with a view of the Detroit River. But at ages 77 and 81, Broutin admits they’re limited in how far they can walk to explore downtown.
Then the Accessibili-D shuttle service launched this summer, offering three autonomous vehicles to transport Detroit residents over age 62 or those with disabilities, and it changed their lives.
“With this added mobility, we can get to more places downtown and up Woodward, and not wear ourselves out — actually have the energy to do all this stuff. Old people get tired,” he says, laughing.
Since the service launched June 20, over 150 riders have used the free self-driving service to get to doctor’s appointments, grocery stores and recreational areas like the Detroit Riverfront.
The service spans 20 square miles, with 92 stops in the city, and organizers say up to 30 more stops will be added in October. The $2.4 million project is a joint venture by Detroit’s Office of Mobility Innovation, autonomous driving technology provider May Mobility and the Michigan Mobility Collaborative.
Running until July 2025, the pilot is the first of its kind in the country to look at how autonomous vehicles can offer transportation solutions for older adults and those with disabilities.
The project is “trying to find a solution to a very old problem” for those groups in need of transportation, says Holli Seabury, executive director of the Delta Dental Foundation, which gave the pilot a $206,000 grant.
After medical costs, transportation is the second reason people are unable to access dental services in the state, she says.
“If you maybe used to be able to drive, but now you can’t drive anymore because of age-related vision changes or age-related disability, it becomes very difficult to get to the dentist if you have an income level where you can’t afford to take a taxi or an Uber,” she says.
With this in mind, the Accessibili-D route includes stops at several dental clinics, including My Community Dental Center, which accepts Medicaid and offers a sliding-fee scale for low-income patients.
The shuttle is also on-demand. Riders can book directly in an app or call a number, and a Toyota Sienna minivan will meet them at a designated stop.
This can be a game-changer for low-income Detroiters who need rides to medical appointments. Seabury points out transportation services are available for patients insured by Medicaid, “but nationwide there are a lot of difficulties with those services as far as being reliable.”
She adds: “We really need reliable transportation that shows up when it needs to so you can make it to your appointment on time, and you don’t show up hours late for your appointment and find out they can no longer see you.”
May Mobility onsite manager Jorge Gutierrez says one regular rider takes the shuttle from a stop on West Grand Boulevard near his home to the Veterans Hospital. Gutierrez says despite having VA benefits, the veteran previously had to pay out of pocket for rides to the hospital and schedule transportation far in advance. But using the app, he can book a shuttle instantly.
“It gains him the freedom to say, ‘I want to head over there today,’ he says. “And he’s able to book a ride and get over there in a few minutes.”
An automated ride with a personal touch
On a sunny afternoon, May Mobility staff met a reporter for a demo outside the company’s headquarters at Wayne State University’s Industry Innovation Center. A Toyota Sienna wrapped in green artwork featuring the Spirit of Detroit and Renaissance Center pulled up at a bus stop along Second Avenue.
Many shuttle stops are at Detroit bus stops because they’re wheelchair accessible. Riders can take two to three people with them. And all safety operators have wheelchair accessibility training if a passenger needs assistance.
Ron Schmidt, known as “the Ron Father” to the May Mobility operators he’s trained, was in the driver’s seat of the AV nicknamed Miller. The Bellevue resident is in the over-62 target population himself and says he loves his job because he relates to his riders.
“It’s so rewarding. Man, woman, it doesn’t matter. They’re just so thankful,” he says.
Though the vehicle’s automated, it’s a very humanistic experience, where friendly operators ensure passengers are safe and comfortable.
Each vehicle has a safety operator like Schmidt who can take control at any time. The operator wears a headset connected to headquarters, where staff monitor the vehicles on large screens in real time. Backseat riders also see a map showing the AV’s route and any surrounding vehicles.
As Miller headed down Woodward, Schmidt kept his hands on the wheel, as if he were steering.
“We train all of our advanced vehicle operators to always maintain a grip on the wheel. That way if at any time he needs to take over, it’s an instantaneous decision, not something that will take him time,” explains manager Gutierrez, sitting in the middle row.
“I found with new riders, seeing the operator with his hands on the wheel makes him feel a little bit safer,” Schmidt adds.
The Accessibili-D shuttle is one of only two AV pilots deployed in Detroit this year, according to Gutierrez. Given Detroiters aren’t used to seeing AVs around Eastern Market or the Cass Corridor, organizers were aware the technology itself could scare off potential riders.
“Obviously, we were concerned … folks might not feel comfortable being behind the wheel of a vehicle that’s not being driven by a typical driver,” Gutierrez says. “The fun thing is, we’ve actually had the exact opposite reaction. Most folks that we give rides to, they get off and they say, “How has this not existed before?”
That’s exactly what Broutin thinks. He and his wife regularly take the shuttle to the downtown YMCA for morning workouts. They’re such fans, they recruited six other YMCA regulars to use it.
“They’re teaching each other how to use the app and, you know, arguing about where they want to go for lunch,” he says with a laugh. “We’re trying to get as many people signed up as we can. It’s such a benefit to us, and we want to see it continue and funding continue.”
Riding down a narrow residential street with speed bumps — a route Schmidt said was “one of the most difficult” — Gutierrez explains AVs are mostly tested on the West Coast or in Southern states. “There’s a reason for that. These machines are extremely delicate, highly calibrated. Dealing with adverse weather is difficult,” he says.
Yet Miller is ready for the potential blizzards to come. In 2022, May Mobility launched another AV pilot in snowy Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where a portion of the ridership uses wheelchairs.
“All of the miles and the hours that we’ve had seeing snow in Grand Rapids will benefit us despite us never having seen any snow [in Detroit],” he says. “Because the autonomous system is learning from those experiences.”
Breaking down mobility barriers
For city officials, holding the pilot in the Motor City was a no-brainer.
“We, the city, want to keep whatever the automobile industry has to offer in Michigan,” says Konner Petz, senior mobility strategist at Detroit’s Office of Mobility Innovation.
“We want to push boundaries. This is a pilot that has not been done before in the sense of the scale,” he says, noting the 20-mile coverage area and year of testing.
He adds the city would like to integrate AVs into public transit, and the technology can break down mobility barriers for older or disabled Detroiters.
“This service is giving people the ability, independence and freedom to not just get to their appointments and get to grocery stores to meet their everyday needs,” Petz says, “but they are also able to access the riverfront and some of the various parks throughout the city for recreational purposes. Just because they are older, just because they have these mobility barriers, doesn’t mean that they also don’t want to have fun.”
Gutierrez shares the story of one woman who recently moved to Detroit and uses the service to get to know the city. “She changes her drop-off destination once a week and goes to explore a different part of town,” he says.
Broutin says he has a car, but it can be difficult finding street parking downtown and structures can be $10 or more. The fact the shuttle is free saves him money and stress.
“It gets me where I want to go. That’s the best part,” he says. “It’s enhancing my life.”
While the goal is to understand the pain points of transportation for seniors and those with disabilities — and how AVs can help — another is learning how to get those populations into driverless transportation, says Dillon Funkhouser, a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute engineer who onboards new riders.
Funkhouser points out the service has limitations: It doesn’t come directly to front doors, so getting to the stops can be a challenge.
“I sit down with people at a senior center, and I talk to them and help them figure out how they’re going to manage to ride the shuttle, which a lot of times includes walking a couple blocks,” he says.
The study’s results will be shared with the U.S. Department of Transportation to help regulators develop federal AV standards, Petz says.
“We are definitely still years away from the federal government actually implementing any type of regulations around autonomous vehicles,” he notes. “However, at the state level, many states have incorporated those types of guidelines.”
As of mid-September, the service has an 82% repeat ridership rate. “Folks take one or two rides, and then we become a staple in their day-to-day life,” Gutierrez says.
Assuming the pilot is a success in Detroit, organizations serving older adults and the disabled are excited about the possibilities. Seabury of Delta Dental Foundation says AVs could have a tremendous impact for people in both urban and rural areas who face transportation barriers.
“I’m hoping they are able to keep growing this project and creating better technology to the point where maybe this is how we’ll all be getting our transportation when we’re older or if we have a disability,” she says. “A car without a driver will zip up to our door, take us where we’re going and then come get us when we’re done….I hope when I’m that age that it’s completely available for me whenever I need it.”
Catch a Ride
Eligible Detroit residents must enroll to participate in the pilot. Visit here.
Hours of Operation:
Wednesday through Monday
Weekdays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Weekends 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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