Rhode Island
RI tested autonomous vehicles five years ago. Here’s how it turned out.
Little Roady drove itself on Providence streets in 2019 and 2020.
The six-seat vehicle had trouble making left turns, and the technology was deemed not ready for Rhode Island roads.
PROVIDENCE – Little Roady, a six-seat self-driving shuttle bus, began making rounds from the Providence railroad station to Olneyville and back in 2019, as part of a one-year pilot program to test out their suitability as a transit alternative for Rhode Island.
After testing the vehicle out for three months on less busy roads in Quonset Point, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation offered the service free to riders on the Providence route beginning in May. Less sophisticated than driverless vehicles today, Little Roady stuck to a fixed route, mapped out for it.
The service got around the legal prohibition of autonomous vehicles on Rhode Island roads because it wasn’t fully autonomous; a human attendant sat in the driver’s seat and took control when the self-driving vehicle couldn’t handle a situation.
In the first nine months of the pilot, Little Roady gave more than 33,000 rides. During that period, the shuttles were involved in 11 “incidents” with other vehicles or objects, according to the DOT. All of those happened when a human attendant was operating the vehicle, and none involved injuries.
Although there had been talk of extending the pilot for a second year, the program came to an end in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and wasn’t renewed.
“What it taught us is the technology was not ready for the roads,” DOT spokesman Charles St. Martin told The Journal last month. The attendant had to take the wheel too often for left turns, he said.
The pilot program, operated by May Mobility, was paid for with $500,000 in Volkswagen emissions scandal settlement money, $580,000 in federal research funds and $145,000 in state dollars.
Rhode Island
CRMC asks RI Superior Court to force Quidnessett Country Club to take down rock wall
Rhode Island
Why a Taylor Swift wedding might shut down Westerly streets
Forget limos, Taylor Swift will need buses for her wedding guests
Airline Express Limousine Owner Chuck O’Koomian tells us why.
As Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce eye possibly getting married at her Watch Hill, Rhode Island, mansion, The Providence Journal is surveying various wedding vendors about what it would take for the Ocean State to host a wedding befitting the most popular woman in the world.
Imagine a crowd of A-list celebrities descending on the village of Watch Hill in Westerly this summer to attend the wedding of mega celebrity Taylor Swift and football star Travis Kelce.
To Chuck O’Koomian, who owns Airline Express Limousine and Car Service with his wife Ginny Cauley, it’s like a scene out of a horror movie.
“It’s gonna be a logistical nightmare,” O’Koomian told The Providence Journal.
How will guests arrive at Taylor Swift’s wedding in Westerly?
While Swift has not announced when or where her wedding will be, O’Koomian talked about what would be involved in getting a large celebrity crowd to the wedding, if it were held at her Bluff Avenue mansion, the nearby Ocean House resort or the Watch Hill Chapel, where Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo tied the know with football player Christian McCaffrey in 2024.
O’Koomian, who has provided transportation for comedian Jay Leno, who has a home in Newport, said there would be three distinct phases of ground transportation:
- Getting people from airports to their hotels
- Getting people from their hotels to the wedding activities
- Getting them back to the airports
The middle phase, delivering people to wedding activities, very well may not be just a one-day affair. Many say Swift won’t have a wedding day; they’re expecting a wedding week.
While some guests, especially those in New York or Connecticut, would probably just have their drivers bring them to Westerly, others would fly in by private jets, probably landing at Westerly State Airport or Quonset State Airport, whose military runway is long enough to handle larger jets. From there, guests would need a ride to where they are staying.
What Westerly residents have to say
Folks in Westerly have surmised that, even if it’s not the site of the ceremony or reception, the Ocean House, along with its sister property the Weekapaug Inn, plus several rented, private mansions would be needed to accommodate guests.
O’Koomian expects that a large limousine company – such as Boston Corporate Coach or Carey Limousine, in Massachusetts, or Hy’s Limousine, in Connecticut – with more than 120 cars each, would get the contract to serve Taylor Swift’s wedding. “There’s not even 120 cars in Rhode Island, all the companies combined,” he said, adding that, as a subcontractor, he would hope to get a piece of the business.
Could a fleet of private cars filled with stars snarl traffic in Westerly?
This first phase of local transportation would involve many trips of smaller parties. “They may come in two, three, four at a time,” he said.
While that is suitable for limousine service, getting from hotels to the ceremony, reception and other events, would require a different strategy for that second phase. “It’s like they’re transporting a football team,” he said.
That would mean “coaches,” the upscale version of buses. They would ease the traffic burden that would be created by limousines ferrying some 300 wedding guests around the tiny village of Watch Hill.
“It’s gonna take a lot of coordination if it’s Westerly,” O’Koomian said. “They’re going to have to shut down half the city. Police would have to shut down streets.”
Rhode Island
Rhode Island man crashes into house in Raynham after apparent medical episode
A car crashed into a home in Raynham Tuesday afternoon.
Police said they responded to a report for a vehicle that crashed into a home shortly before 1 p.m. on Broadway Street.
Officers at the scene said they found a sedan that had crashed into the lower brick portion of the home.
Investigators said a man from Rhode Island appeared to suffer from a medical episode before leaving the roadway and crashing into the home.
Police said the driver suffered non life-threatening injuries. He was transported to Boston Medical Center – South in Brockton.
Officers said the home was empty at the time of the crash.
The Raynham Building Department responded to assess the home for structural damage.
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The crash is under investigation.
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