Innovative Solutions

When testing for the coronavirus began at the nearby Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, the hospital coordinated with the Jacksonville Transit Authority and Beep to come up with an innovative solution to transport test samples. Four repurposed shuttles, including two off-duty Move Nona shuttles, run on a loop between the public drive-through test site and the laboratory on a route separated from pedestrians and traffic.

“It is both humbling and exciting to partner with them in bringing this innovative solution to support such a critical challenge facing our country,” said Beep CEO Joe Moye. “We are proud to do our part to support this important cause.”

Each of the teams involved partnered to create, test, and deploy the special routes. A lot of the work was able to be done remotely from Beep’s Central Command Center in Lake Nona Town Center and JTA’s mobile command center in Jacksonville. This use case is an ideal route for the shuttles – an established route with little traffic, while also presenting a perfect environment to transport the tests – a controlled environment that eliminates risk to a driver.

“Using artificial intelligence enables us to protect staff from exposure to this contagious virus by using cutting edge autonomous vehicle technology and frees up staff time that can be dedicated to direct treatment and care for patients,” said Mayo Clinic CEO Kent Thielen, M.D.

In addition to the shuttle routes Beep operates as part of Move Nona, Beep also partners with the Jacksonville Transit Authority to operate shuttles as part of the city’s Ultimate Urban Circulator in collaboration with other local partners.