You’ll be able to ride a driverless shuttle at Cary’s Bond Park this spring

Along with trails, playgrounds and boat rentals, visitors to Fred G. Bond Park in Cary will be able to try something new this spring: a driverless shuttle.

The shuttle, known as CASSI, uses cameras, GPS and laser sensors to follow a fixed route at speeds of up to 12 mph. CASSI will make its debut at Bond Park on Monday, March 6, and run each weekday between the Cary Senior Center and Bond Park Community Center through June 2.

The rides are free.

CASSI, which stands for Connected Autonomous Shuttle Supporting Innovation, is a project of the N.C. Department of Transportation to test and demonstrate the use of autonomous vehicles. The first CASSI made its debut at the Transportation Summit at the Raleigh Convention Center in January 2020, before beginning a trial run on N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus.

More recently, a CASSI shuttle carried visitors around a one-mile loop at the Wright Brothers National Memorial on the Outer Banks.

Cary hopes to learn from its experience with CASSI as well, said Nicole Coughlin, the town’s chief information officer.

“We’re still in the early days of driverless vehicles, but the technology is continuously improving,” Coughlin said in a written statement. “Through this pilot, we hope to get a sense of how autonomous vehicles might figure into future Cary projects, and to hear from riders about their experience on the shuttle.”

The latest CASSI is a different model from previous ones; it’s made by the French company Navya and operated by Beep of Lake Nona, Florida. But it looks and feels like the earlier versions — a mini subway car on wheels with seats for up to eight passengers.

There’s no driver’s seat and no driver, but there will be an attendant who can take control if something goes wrong. Passengers age 15 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

CASSI will operate at Bond Park between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The inaugural run will be at noon March 6.