A $250,000 grant will provide a 45-day pilot program for automated electric bus rides at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Northern Michigan.
The grant will go to East Lansing tech company Adastec. According to a statement from the company, the bus will run five days a week for eight hours a day, taking a 7.4-mile route and stopping at Dune Plateau Overlook, Lake Michigan Overlook, and North Bar Lake Overlook.
“We would like to make public transit available for underserved communities, especially people with disabilities,” said Ali Pecker, the company’s CEO and co-founder. “If you can move at least 5-10% of the transportation from personal cars to public transit, big problems like congestion and carbon emissions can be solved,” he said.
The funding is from the National Park Service Mobility Challenge Program, a program announced by Governor Gretchen Whitmer last year in partnership with the Biden administration.
Pecker said the company was testing its technology to ensure the rides would be safe. Rides will start in mid-August after passenger-free tests and a mapping of the area.
“Our system is a map-based system,” Pecker said. “It has (a) very detailed map of the environment, including trees, including curbs and everything, traffic rules. So if there is, for example, a speed bump, we know its location so we can slow down for it.”
In addition, the bus will have a designated trained driver aboard for all rides.
The company said the bus is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal motor vehicle safety standards.
“We would like to show that this is something useful; this is something repeatable to other national deployments,” said Pecker.
Those interested in riding can sign up on the company’s website.
