Self-driving car project flourishes on Iron Range

DULUTH — Myrna Peterson puts about 1,300 miles per year on her wheelchair in Grand Rapids, Minn., where, in the past, a shortage of public transportation forced her to spin around town on her own.

But the ice and snow that come with the Iron Range's harsh winters can be unforgiving, so she's thrilled with a new self-driving vehicle program serving the region. It has given about 2,000 rides since it launched last fall with funding from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the city of Grand Rapids.

"It quite literally gets me off the street," said Peterson, a wheelchair user for nearly three decades because of a car accident.

Minnesota's Autonomous Rural Transit Initiative started in Grand Rapids with five self-driving vehicles, three of which have wheelchair ramps. This summer, the Department of Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation (IRRR) received a $9.3 million federal grant to expand the shuttle pilot program, called goMARTI.

The vehicles offer free, on-demand rides both day and night to about 70 pickup and drop-off points, which users order via app or phone. Autonomous vehicle provider May Mobility and software provider Via run the vehicles, which operate with an employee in the car to assist riders and to smooth over any self-driving hiccups.

The latest funding means an additional self-driving car, plus three electric vehicles. Stops at the Itasca campus of Minnesota North College and the local Walmart and food bank will be added, along with the communities of Cohasset and La Prairie.

The project ensures that northeastern Minnesota "is well positioned to help create a better future for rural transportation," IRRR Commissioner Ida Rukavina said in a news release.

The region has daytime options such as Samaritan Transport for medical appointments, but "social rides," like a trip to a movie or to visit a friend, cost money, Peterson said, and the cost can quickly add up.

Peterson, a former teacher, said she made it her mission about a decade ago to increase accessibility in the Itasca County city of about 11,200. To illustrate the high transportation need for wheelchair users in 2015, she organized an event to break a Guinness World Record, working with assisted-living facilities to transport residents to a giant parking lot.

A group of 351 people — 251 of whom who used wheelchairs regularly — rolled in succession for three minutes, breaking what was then a record.

Peterson learned then that the reason many chair users aren't seen out in the community was the severe lack of accessible, affordable transportation. She and others formed the advocacy group Mobility Mania — which helped bring the self-driving program to the Iron Range.

The self-driving cars make rural transportation more equitable, said Frank Douma, a transportation researcher for the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

It's challenging for rural residents without cars to travel about town, since small cities like Grand Rapids aren't dense enough for major transit services, he said.

"What goMARTI brought is the 21st-century technology of being able to order a ride through a few minutes advance notice through an app," Douma said. "It's really meeting a demand that has not otherwise been met."

Grand Rapids is home to the project in part because the technology companies involved wanted to learn more about how self-driving cars work in wintry rural weather, said Michelle Scheuermann, spokeswoman for PLUM Catalyst, which manages the project.

So far, employees manning the vehicles have only needed to drive a small percentage of the time, with the vehicles handling most of what northern winters threw at them. The company has also changed its policy on who can ride. At first, children ages 12 and older were using the cars to get to athletic and school events, but now riders must be at least 16 or accompanied by an adult.

The pilot will run several years thanks to the new funding. Douma said a similar pilot is just concluding in White Bear Lake, and with long-term financing and a successful outcome in Grand Rapids, could expand elsewhere in Minnesota.

And what is it like to be ferried around in a self-driving car?

"That's pretty exciting for me," Peterson said.