It appears that the Walt Disney World in Florida is positioned “to launch the highest-profile commercial deployment of driverless passenger vehicles to date, testing a fleet of driverless shuttles that could cart passengers through parking lots and around its theme parks.”
The LA Times reported that Disney is in “late-stage negotiation with at least two manufacturers of autonomous shuttles – Local Motors, based in Phoenix, and Navya, based in Paris.” They mentioned that it is unclear whether a contract would go to both or just one of those companies.
They also mentioned that a pilot program is planned to launch later this year that will transport employees in the electric-drive robot vehicles. They said if that pilot goes well, the shuttles could begin transporting park guests as early as 2018. There has been no mention of driverless shuttles at Disneyland in Anaheim at this time.
Some might say that driverless shuttles at Disney could recapture the futuristic vision that happened when monorails were introduced at Disneyland in the early 1960s and Walt Disney World in the early 1970s.
Source: LA Times
