Self-driving vans are ferrying coronavirus tests from drive-thru locations in Florida to the Mayo Clinic campus in order to minimize exposure and free up healthcare workers
- The Mayo Clinic in Florida is using self-driving vans during the coronavirus
- The vehicles are transporting tests from sites to the Jacksonville laboratory
- Vans travel along roads that have been roped off to pedestrians and traffic
- A SUV driven by a human follows along the route to ensure a safe journey
The Mayo Clinic in Florida is using self-driving shuttles to ferry coronavirus test from a drive-thru location to its Jacksonville campus.
Four vehicles have been making round trips every day since March 30th in a bid to limit exposure and free up medical staff from having to deliver the tests.
Healthcare workers place the samples into a secure container and loads it into a van that deliveries it to be processed.
The route is isolated from pedestrians and traffic and the van is followed by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to ensure a safe journey.
This is the ‘first time in history’ autonomous vehicles are being used to transport medical supplies.
Scroll down for video
The Mayo Clinic in Florida is using self-driving shuttles to ferry coronavirus test from a drive-thru location to its Jacksonville campus. Four vehicles have been making round trips every day since March 30th in a bid to limit exposure and free up medical staff from having to deliver the tests
The shuttle was developed by Beep and has been undergoing tests for three years in the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s (JTA) Ultimate Urban Circulator program.
Kent Thielen, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida said in a statement: ‘During a time of rapid change and uncertainty, the ability to think innovatively alongside the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, NAVYA and Beep during the pandemic has strengthened all of our teams through community collaboration.’
‘Using artificial intelligence enables us to protect staff from exposure to this contagious virus by using cutting-edge autonomous vehicle technology and frees up staff time that can be dedicated to direct treatment and care for patients.’
‘We are grateful to JTA, Beep and NAVYA for their partnership in these challenging times.’
A healthcare worker stationed at the drive-thru testing site packs the coronavirus tests into coolers and loads the containers into the van
City officials have setup a specific route for the self-driving vans, which have been blocked off to pedestrians and other vehicles.
And the group will use this time to gather data on the vans’ abilities and other data that will be useful to improve its autonomous abilities.
A healthcare worker stationed at the drive-thru testing site packs the coronavirus tests into coolers and loads the containers into the van.
The van then takes off for its trip to the May Clinic where it is met by another healthcare professional who takes out the cooler and replaces it with an empty one – and then the autonomous shuttle heads back to the testing site.
The use of self-driving vehicles during the coronavirus pandemic has become a popular way to carry out tasks, all while keep the public safe from being exposed.
The van then takes off for its trip to the May Clinic where it is met by another healthcare professional who takes out the cooler and replaces it with an empty one – and then the autonomous shuttle heads back to the testing site
Neolix, a driverless delivery service, has experienced a spike in demand as it helps reduce physical contact and fills in at a time of labor shortages in China– many workers in the country have been quarantined.
The autonomous vans are being used to deliver medical supplies, disinfect streets and delivery food to people who are in the heart of the outbreak.
The startup has booked orders for more than 200 vehicles in the past two months and before that, it had only produced 125 units since last May, founder Yu Eny said in an interview with Bloomberg.
China was the first country to be infected with the coronavirus, which began December 2019. It has since spread across the world – there more than 1.3 million cases and over 74,800 deaths reported around the world
Yu also noted that ‘people’s perception toward driverless delivery had a complete 180-degree shift.’
‘People realize that such vehicles can get things done when it is risky for a human being to do so.’
China was the first country to be infected with the coronavirus, which began December 2019.
It has since spread across the world – there more than 1.3 million cases and over 74,800 deaths reported around the world.