On May 12, in what appears to be a desperate attempt to impress World Cup visitors, Atlanta Beltline, Inc., requested $3 million of taxpayer money in a hastily called Atlanta Transit Link (ATL) special meeting. Their plan: a 1-year pilot for 4 self-driving, 10-passenger Beep vans, to operate in traffic on a 2-mile loop from Atlanta University, to the Westside MARTA Station, to the Lee+White complex. ABI also requested part of the money be used to study putting the same system on the Beltline itself. Does this use of taxpayer dollars make sense??? We went to Orlando to find out.

The sun was beating down on Lake Nona, a glossy mixed-use development near downtown Orlando. We were there chasing the hype to experience what Mayor Dickens has hailed as the future of public transportation. If they were going to impress us anywhere, it would be here — home to Beep’s headquarters.

Beep’s proprietary system, called AutonomOS, is marketed as a scalable, vehicle-agnostic platform designed for public mobility. Their website calls it “safe, cost-effective, and built for multimodal integration.” In other words: the future. Or so we were told.

But where were the Beeps? After some searching, we finally spotted one — a single, stationary van parked outside an office building. It looked like a small VW bus. We were surprised to be greeted not by cutting-edge autonomy but by a human driver.

Despite the “driverless” billing, the vehicle couldn’t operate without a human onboard. For safety, the driver had to remain in constant video contact with a live control center — monitored by yet another person. The pod wouldn’t move unless all riders were seated and buckled. If someone unbuckled — as we did to grab a dropped phone — the vehicle came to a hard stop. The driver explained that the sensors can’t reliably tell the difference between another vehicle and a low-hanging tree limb or passing pedestrian — so the system errs on the side of frequent stops. We were his only passengers that day — something he said was fairly common. He also explained that anyone under 16 must be accompanied by an adult and that he has to stop to check IDs.

*Pod interior, with seat belts for every passenger. Photo: Beltline Rail Now March 2025.*

The small interior space had seating for only 10 people. There is really no room for bikes, scooters, strollers, or wheelchairs. To allow any wheeled devices to board, the attendant must stop the van and pull out a metal ramp from beneath a bench, where people might be sitting, and attach it to the side of the vehicle. The resulting steep incline presents a challenge. If a wheelchair is not powered, the driver or someone else must push it up the ramp. For powered wheelchairs, driving at torque up the ramp into the tiny interior of the van would most likely require all other passengers to exit. And then, before the vehicle can start moving again, wheelchairs must have three safety straps attached.

Also the vehicles break down from time to time. This requires dispatching a technician. We observed several vehicles undergoing repairs. A breakdown of one vehicle in a system could cause a significant delay.

*Navya Beep Pod with Beltline Rail Now volunteers, March 2025*

We left Orlando absolutely convinced that any talk of using these vehicles as a serious transit solution could not possibly be serious. It didn’t feel like the future. It felt like what it was: a cramped electric van.

So we were shocked when ABI made its request of the ATL Board. The proposed pilot, to be approved by a vote of the board in June, has ridiculously limited capacity to accommodate the estimated 300,000 sports fans descending on Atlanta for the World Cup. It’s touted as an Atlanta transit showcase, but these 4 vans combined, projected to run every 15 minutes, can carry only 40 people per trip.

The ATL Board is voting on whether to spend millions in taxpayer money on what in our experience is a system with severe limitations, certainly not the real transit system we were promised. Why would anyone consider paying millions to a private company to pilot a deployment of 4 vans on our stfor 1 year? And how could they consider studying a plan to pave a road by the Beltline to run more vans?

*Beep pod at Lake Nona FL in the shop for repairs in March 2025. Flat tires and broken axles can keep a vehicle out of service for days or weeks.*
*Image: Beltline Rail Now 2025*

Meanwhile, the Streetcar East Extension is in final design. Many studies, over multiple years, have concluded that light rail is the best choice for real public transit on the Beltline. The funds have been banked since taxpayers have been paying for Beltline transit for almost a decade. This is another example of Atlanta squandering taxpayer money and subverting the will of the voters.

Mayor Dickens promised Beltline rail. Has he really decided upon a solution that is clearly not workable?

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