The Future Of Public Transportation? Optimus Ride Driverless Shuttles Set To Expand To Brooklyn

Boston company Optimus Ride will soon bring its driverless shuttles to New York City, with the company beginning to operate a six-bus fleet Wednesday in the fenced-in 300-acre area of Brooklyn Navy Yard.

"Launching our self-driving vehicle system in New York at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is yet another validation that not only is Optimus Ride's system a safe, effective means of transportation, but also that autonomous vehicles can solve real-world problems in structured environment -- today," Dr. Ryan Chin, CEO and Co-Founder of Optimus Ride said.

The vehicles are expected to transport an estimated 500 passengers a day and more than 16,000 passengers a month.

"We are excited to bring the future of transportation to New York with Optimus Ride, and provide the 10,000 employees across the Yard and Brooklyn community with greater access to convenient mobility," said David Ehrenberg, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is an industrial park that is home to 400 businesses with more than 10,000 employees in total. The Yard used to be a naval shipbuilding facility which built some prominent ships that were used for war.

Self-driving cars are going to be more popular as Tesla, Ford and GM continue to pioneer autonomous driving technology.

Optimus Ride has ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was founded in 2015. The company says that it designs "technologies to enable efficient, sustainable and equitable mobility systems and solutions."