I feel like this stuff... cars driving themselves, parking themselves, lane assist, etc and now driverless shuttles is like something out of the movies.  Like Demolition Man and Total Recall where they did everything virtually, and had cars that drove themselves or were completely driverless.  Or, even better had robots that looked like crash test dummies doing the driving.

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Are we headed in that direction?

MnDOT introduced a driverless shuttle first in Rochester.  It's the Med City Mover. It's not like these shuttles are going all that far.  The Med City Mover travels about a mile and a half around downtown Rochester. Now, there is a second driverless shuttle in White Bear Lake.  It's Bear Tracks.  

How does one actually ride this thing?

Surprisingly, the shuttle can carry up to 10 people at once and is wheelchair accessible.  Some people may even just want to ride it to have the experience of riding in a driverless shuttle.  There are very limited hours, just running Monday through Friday from 9:30am to 1:30pm.  My initial question is 'why so limited? It's not like there is a problem with staffing'.  Just saying.

If you are just walking by the shuttle, you can just hop on at any of the stops.  The route and stops are mapped out on the Bear Tracks website.

They also have this disclaimer... I suppose because this is still experimental, and things happen.

Please note: This is a research and demonstration project, and the shuttle may not be in operation during all planned hours due to inclement weather, updating of software, or vehicle maintenance.

New technology...maybe we are on the way to life like the Jetsons.

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