Navy Yard visitors and employees can now get around on a self-driving shuttle

Navy Yard workers and visitors have a new way to get around the area: a self-driving shuttle.

“Getting folks from their office buildings or labs or the shipyard to places where they can go to lunch or Jefferson Health, it’s really important,” said Kate McNamara, senior vice president of the Navy Yard at PIDC, who noted that the Navy Yard is 1,200 acres.

The new shuttle, which was first unveiled in 2022, launched on Tuesday and will run on a contained loop within the Navy Yard. It will be available for use by workers and visitors of the Navy Yard for free, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., running every 10 minutes. It can seat nine passengers in seats and one passenger that uses a wheelchair. The eventual aim is to connect the shuttle to SEPTA’s NRG Station, but a date for when that would begin is not yet available.

The shuttle is able to drive itself, using technology from Perrone Robotics, a company based in Virginia.

“The vehicle … is making its own decisions on when to go, when to stop for pedestrians, when to cross traffic. All those decisions are being made by a computer on board,” said Nick Pilipowskyj, vice president of business operations for the company.

There are a few things the vehicle can’t do on its own, though. The shuttle can’t detect potholes and a safety attendant needs to help a traveler when securing a wheelchair in place.

There will be one safety attendant onboard in the driver’s seat, per PennDot requirement, to supervise the vehicle, said Pilipowskyj. That’s in line with vehicle autonomy laws in most states, he noted. A brake can override the self-driving system if needed, including to immediately react to emergency vehicles, or because of changing weather conditions. The attendant can also go in and out of autonomous control with the click of a button.

On Tuesday, during the vehicle’s inaugural tour, a car cut in front of the shuttle during the drive, and it automatically slowed down, noted Donald Brock, the safety attendant aboard.

Tamara Williams, who works for Axalta Coating Systems in the Navy Yard as a senior lab technician, says she usually packs lunch but could see the shuttle being useful in the winter, or to save some time, depending on where it stops. Sometimes she’ll get food at the URBN facility, which is a 15-minute walk from her building.

“If it’s cold, that would be a convenience, so we wouldn’t have to walk or take our own cars. We could just take it, go get something to eat locally,” she said.

Nicholas Gaetano, who also works for Axalta, says he might try out the shuttle in the future. Asked if the self-driving aspect made it scary or appealing, he noted “[It] doesn’t go too fast. I’m OK with getting on it.”

But Steve Scheetz, who designs colors for EMD Electronics at the Navy Yard, doesn’t anticipate using it himself.

“I generally like to walk when I’m here,” he said. “We’re always sitting in front of a computer or in the lab standing around doing things. Being able to be physically active is more important to me than using the shuttle to drive around from here to there.”

The automated shuttle is the latest transportation service to be offered in the area. The Navy Yard already offers transportation aboard two different bus services: The Navy Yard Loop Bus connects SEPTA’s NRG Station and various points in the Navy Yard, operating every 15 mins from 7 a.m. to 7:20 p.m., according to the Navy Yard website; The Navy Yard Center City Express bus provides service from 10th and Market Streets and 4th and Market Streets to the Navy Yard, Monday through Friday, as well as makes stops within the Navy Yard.

As the autonomous shuttle begins service, it will make four stops, but there is room to add more if there is a need.

The shuttle will stop at: