Title for this project should be: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana)
We are about to waste more taxpayer dollars on another doomed-to-fail "pie-in'the-sky," politically sexy, ego boosting project to salvage/save face regarding the total failure of the Skyway to achieve its mission.
Just one example is that the low passenger capacity is also a big problem with the Skyway. Consultants prostituting their traffic projections to justify the project for their paying client, JTA, will be another repeated mistake. Accepting up-front Federal dollars for construction and then saddling local taxpayers with years of subsequent operating losses will be another. Examples among many of not learning from the past.
Admitting failure and starting over just isn't something Jax leaders honorably do. JTA should learn from Jeff Bezos: It's alright to fail, learn from it, and try to not repeat the same mistake. Bad enough that JTA failed with the Skyway, But compounding that disaster is JTA's weakness to not learn from, and not repeat, these poorly concieved projects. The autonomous vehicles appear to be much like the Skyway vehicles with only a different "track" and appearance. They are no faster, carry no more people, or will greatly widen the unappealing route network. Add, that this is also, initially, going down Bay Street to the Stadium, gives me the idea this might be another bone being thrown toward Mr. Kahn's interests. But, here we go again...
To put the odds of success in perspective, consider that Google, Tesla, Uber and others have spent billions of dollars and years of time plus run millions of miles trying to perfect autonomous vehicles and are still at it. So, I am at a loss as to how JTA is going to leap frog their efforts with this project. Wonder what happens after the first accident?