With my hotel room not yet ready, I take a ride to Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
I’m here for this week’s CES show, where numerous autonomous driving announcements are expected. With a few hours to kill, my goal is to take a ride on the driverless shuttle bus.
Sponsored by AAA and operated by Keolis, the electric shuttle got off to a rocky start in November, when it was involved in a minor accident on the first day. The incident was blamed on a delivery driver, who backed into the shuttle.
Since that day, everything has been smooth, and ridership has grown to about 1,000 people a week, Maurice Bell, vice president of mobility solutions for Keolis, told Fleet Owner. That is until the morning I arrived, hoping to catch the first shuttle at 11 a.m. After 30 minutes of waiting with other would-be passengers, we were informed there was a maintenance issue.