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Like most areas around Metro Atlanta, there’s been one dominant mode of transportation for residents and commuters around the Cumberland area. That, of course, has always been the car.
The Cumberland area is split into four quadrants by I-75 and the 285 “Perimeter” highway that encircles Atlanta. If you’re heading to a Braves baseball game, commuting to work, or attending a conference at the Cobb Galleria Centre, you’re likely getting into a car.
But a new pilot program with a Florida-based startup is working to make this car-centric area a hub for autonomous shuttle innovation.
Last week the Cumberland Community Improvement District (CID) launched a program with Beep, a Florida-based autonomous mobility company, to pilot autonomous shuttles. It is part of a wider goal to make the Cumberland community – which is home to 30,000 residents and large corporations like The Home Depot, The Weather Company, RaceTrac, and Papa John’s – more accessible through alternative transportation initiatives.
The 8-month pilot program, called the Cumberland Hopper, is about adding “access, connectivity, and character into the Cumberland District,” Kim Menefee, Executive Director of the Cumberland Community Improvement District, told Hypepotamus.
The pilot will test two distinct routes that connect office, retail, and residential areas around the popular Galleria Office Park and the bridge between the Galleria and The Battery Atlanta, home to the Atlanta Braves and a lively live-work-play development.
It is part of the larger Cumberland Sweep project, which is designed to connect the Northwest Atlanta community with multi-modal pathways. The long-term vision is to connect The Battery, The Cumberland Mall, the Cobb Performing Arts Center, and the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
Public-Private Innovation
For those unfamiliar, a Community Improvement District (CID) is an economic development tool where commercial property owners pay an additional tax for public improvement projects. CIDs can “step in” when funding from a state or a county won’t necessarily allow for all the building blocks needed to get an innovation project off the ground.
Cumberland’s CID, founded 35 years ago, is the oldest in the State of Georgia and works to bring public and private funds into making the area more accessible, Menefee told Hypepotamus.
“As our market has changed, we are looking to continue to invest into transformational projects. And the Cumberland Sweep represents that to us,” added Menefee. “So finding a partner who absolutely is cutting edge leading the way in the autonomous mobility strategy was very important for us.
Hopping On An Autonomous Shuttle
Beep is no stranger to the Metro Atlanta area. The Orlando-based startup has been working on autonomous shuttle projects in Peachtree Corners, Georgia and the city’s Curiosity Lab, a “living laboratory” for new transportation innovations.
Beep has autonomous mobility programs currently up and running in six states and 21 communities.
As the pilot program gets underway, it is now time for the Cumberland CID and Beep to get the public on board (literally) with new autonomous vehicles hitting the road. The shuttles will now be on the Cumberland streets hitting a max speed of 15 mph and have sensors to detect other vehicles, pedestrians and other potential obstacles.
The move into Cumberland is a chance for Beep to showcase just how far smart city and autonomous vehicle innovation has come. It is also a chance to get people excited about the future of transportation and get the public ready for the future of transportation, Racquel Asa, Chief Marketing Officer for the Florida-based autonomous mobility company Beep.
“Transportation nowadays is fun, it’s cool, and dare I say, it’s sexy again,” Asa told Hypepotamus. “When you have a playful and relatable form of innovation…it becomes less scary. When you have people understand the purpose of what you’re doing and how things work, it become less scary.”