Jacksonville is the first city in the nation to launch a permanent, fully autonomous, public transportation system that isn’t fully autonomous. And people are starting to notice.
Recently, The Jaxson, a progressive opinion section of WJCT’s online publicly funded “news” magazine called Jacksonville Today, posted a scathing rider review of Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s new NAVI program.
NAVI stands for Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation. Which is a really dumb name for a vehicle that is neither fully autonomous nor innovative. The NAVI fleet is part of the first of three phases of JTA CEO Nat Ford’s silly idea called the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C.) The $400 million-ish plan is to transform the Skyway’s current driverless automated shuttles into other driverless automated shuttles because the future requires it.
Marcus Nelson, who wrote the article, is described as a “transportation advocate, urban planning activist, and political consultant.” Nelson is as homegrown as myself, and has been speaking out against the U2C project since before the Delta variant.
Listen to Nelson (video below)
Something must be brewing behind the scenes, concerning enough for Jax Today, which is basically a taxpayer funded propaganda mouthpiece for Duval’s elite ruling class/Democrat Party, to break ranks and publish Nelson’s piece throwing major shade at Ford’s divinely inspired transit vans blessed by God himself.
NAVI Launch Day June 30, 2025
Jacksonville’s City Council should have never let this day happen, but since they did, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to be one of the first to experience our country’s “future of mobility.” That morning, I loaded the kids in the car and headed downtown. One kid thought we were going to ride a new type of roller coaster, the other expected a ride in something cooler than a Tesla. Both were disappointed. As were Nelson and I.
Upon arriving downtown, a NAVI was waiting at one of the new U2C stops on the south side of the forthcoming Stadium of the Future’s parking lot. We parked and hustled to get onboard.
Several excited, cheering JTA employees welcomed us with NAVI swag bags, and then told us to wait for the next shuttle because that vehicle was experiencing “technical difficulties.”
Uh oh. My low expectations just dropped even lower. I told myself to give JTA some grace. Ford’s team is only allowed to “move at the speed of trust,” while recreating other people’s work using other people’s money.
Nelson had a similar experience. “The first NAVI vehicle to arrive was out of service with a sheet of paper labeling it as such, and the man inside appeared to drive off,” he wrote.
The most noticeable feature of the NAVI: it is blue cargo van with large black hardware hung around the exterior. Not what I expected a fully autonomous innovative vehicle from the future to look like. Nelson noticed even the windows are branded. The “passenger area of the vehicle is fully wrapped, meaning the view outside is rather poor,” he wrote. Windows covered with branding logos doesn’t seem very beneficial for sightseeing.
During the boarding process, several staff members demanded we buckle up, especially the children. They were so concerned about our fastened seat belts, I became concerned.
Same experience for Nelson. “Before we could move, I was told I needed to sit and buckle myself. This appears to be required for all passengers.”
The inside of the van is shockingly unimpressive, considering it cost taxpayers $390-something grand a pop. The interior is gray and dull. There are a few screens displaying the route, spouting off instructions and promotional clips. The seats are very close together and oddly positioned with nothing to grab onto. We quickly figured that out when the driver slammed hard on the brakes, jerking us forward while attempting to make a U-turn into oncoming traffic!
The driver happily apologized like it was no big deal. I checked the map. The sketchy U-turn is seriously shown as part of the designated route.
There are nine seats, however, three are unusable if a wheelchair or stroller is onboard, and one seat doesn’t really have enough leg room to fit a normal size adult comfortably.
An unmarked SUV followed close behind our NAVI. It seemed every NAVI had a tail that day.
The ride was extremely jerky. I could not see the driver from my seat, so I cannot state whether she had her hands on the wheel or simply maned the helm. I was assured that the ride was autonomous, when asked. And I asked. Several times.
Nelson also seemed to be confused whether man or machine was in control while watching a “small screen flicker between Auto, Manual, Ready, and Stowed,” during a portion of his ride. “It’s hard to tell if the autonomous kit is capable of making this movement itself or requires help from the Beep employee,” he observed.
Nelson’s ride was pretty jerky, as well. “There were also a number of sudden stops as it moved, which seems to explain the need for seat belts,” he wrote. He even claimed the vehicle swerved into traffic on Bay Street to avoid several parked cars.
For the last leg of our trip, an industry guy (not sure if he represented Beep or JTA,) joined us and introduced himself as our “ride ambassador.” He was there to pimp the unimpressive features of the service. However, I stopped listening when we rode down a paved narrow path squeezed in between the road and pedestrian sidewalk on Gator Bowl Boulevard. He explained the path is a designated AV lane just for the NAVI. Only a small sliver of grass separates the AV path from the sidewalk. Noticing the potential for disaster, I asked if there is a plan to build a barrier between the path and sidewalk. He said no and assured me the vehicle is outfitted with sensors that will force it to stop should someone cross into the path. W.T. Lerp?! Seriously, that’s the plan? Trust the tech. I am glad we got off when we did.
Along the 3.5-mile route, JTA built 12 NAVI stop stations, each featuring new innovative cutting-edge technology, like kiosks. One kiosk to pay for a ride ($1.75 after Sept. 30), another with screens looping News4Jax headlines and service schedule, as well as a large slightly confusing route map. Nelson pointed out one of the screens “appears to be solely dedicated to broadcasting promotional content about the system,” including “a clip of Councilman Rahman Johnson.”
Kiosks, soulful political bloviations, and a map. Revolutionary stuff.
Most of the U2C NAVI stops are in the direct sunlight. There is a cover over a bench, but it is clear plastic, so you’re cooked instead of cooled. The panels “appear to be frosted glass panels, including a big one on top with a stylized JTA arrow,” Nelson wrote. Waiting for the shuttle, beneath whatever material the top is made of, was extremely unpleasant. Even the transit guys huddled under a nearby tree. But, yet again, I reminded myself to give grace. This is the “future of mobility,” promised to us over and over again during countless taxpayer-funded celebration ceremonies and highly produced expensive promotional videos.
NAVI launch day came after months of build up by JTA and city officials. These “ribbon-cutting” ceremonies were nothing more than state sponsored nondenominational worship services for Jacksonville’s ruling class to celebrate the blessed accomplishments of government employees, politicians and JTA’s “visionary” CEO.
COJ held one of these services a few days before Easter on the roof top terrace of JTA’s $40 million U2C command center ironically called the Autonomous Innovation Center (AIC). Local media and civilian parishioners were able to bask in the glory of the unnecessary building, as well as witness the miracle unveiling of Ford’s baby, the NAVI.
Before Ford’s Pride & Joy could be seen by the public, homage must be paid to those who made it possible for JTA to pretend to be the first to create fully autonomous vehicle technology.
Check out the language these people use when talking about themselves and their taxpayer funded achievements for the cameras. It is really something.
Aundra Wallace, who is the vice chair of JTA’s Board of Directors, among his other dubious titles, told the crowd, “Today marks a long-awaited milestone for JTA board members, executive leadership team, and the JTA staff. A moment that truly reflects the power of innovation, the strength of collaboration and the impact of forward thinking and vision.” Imagine being all that and a Ford Transit van with a tech kit is your best work.
Several others delivered words of thanks and praise, including Jacksonville’s mayor. The most moving portion of the service came from Councilmen Rahman Johnson’s sermon on JTA’s mount.
Johnson is JTA’s council liaison.
Johnson’s speech is so ridiculous, it would be a public disservice not to mock.
Johnson soulfully said, “We are here to celebrate a moment that’s more than just a ceremony. This is a symphony of strategy meeting possibility. And that’s why we are here today. Right here in this new Autonomous Innovation Center, we aren’t just tinkering with the toys of tomorrow, we are building the tools of transformation about today.”
Huh? When I heard him deliver that “transformation about today” line it stuck with me, because I thought what a really dumb thing to say. JTA disagrees. So much so, Johnson’s line is included in the propaganda clips shown throughout the NAVI experience.
The cringe continued.
“These autonomous vehicles that will roll out from this campus are the very movement, their momentum of a city that refuses to be stuck in neutral,” Johnson said. “Today we are about ensuring that machine that once carried us over the river is now a foundation that propels us into uncharted waters,” he said.
Please, make it stop.
“This is an opportunity that won’t retire a Skyway but that will allow us to have a catalyst for sky high opportunity,” Johnson said.
Sigh…
Johnson passionately told the crowd JTA’s autonomous transit system will provide “connection for a city, a people, but most importantly, a purpose. And so today on behalf of our council we owe a deep debt of gratitude to the visionaries for investing in the future. Like Holan for investing in our people. And Beep, for ensuring that these shuttles continue to move because they are the icons of a safer smarter more sustainable transit system.”
Now, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.
“To Nat and the entire team of the JTA, it’s vision like this that moves our city forward and so we’re thankful for every hand that had a space. Every screw that was put on. Every space that was built in this building because this is what it looks like when we get from blueprint to breakthrough. Now we have to let the world know that Jacksonville is not trailing the future, we’re training it,” Johnson proclaimed. And, to the Thomases doubting whether NAVI is ready, citizens must all understand when it comes to government work, “readiness is not the prerequisite for greatness. Belief is.” Amen.
Now, church family with our eyes open and looking up at me….
“Let’s be like Captain Kirk and so many other captains of the Enterprise and boldly go where no one has gone before because in Duval we aren’t just taking the wheel, we are redesigning the road, and this is how we get there. Let’s move Duval forward. Thank you so much for the great work you’re doing. Let’s keep moving forward. Thank you, Donna.” Brother Rah Jah out.
As he left the podium, the mayor forgot she is Catholic and shouted an “Amen,” loud enough to make Jody Martin proud.
Dawn Lopez, JTA’s current propaganda minister, added from the podium, “You can count on Dr. Johnson to preach a good word in due season, and we thank you for it.”
I am thankful it was caught on tape and posted online.
Then, it was Father Ford’s turn. Check out the way Lopez introduces him.
“It is my privilege to introduce the visionary who led the charge pushing boundaries thinking beyond convention and looking towards the future of transportation and bringing it to the present. A true innovator who has traveled literally the world to bring cutting edge ideas home here to the River City, because yes, they made Jacksonville their [Mr. & Mrs. Ford] home. Please welcome the CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority Mr. Nat Ford.”
The crowd cheered as Ford made his way to the podium. He referred to the occasion as a “defining moment,” and blew even more thankful smoke up board members’ tailpipes claiming, “their foresight and courage to embrace innovation gave us the foundation to think boldly and act decisively.”
Ford, like the mayor, was moved by Brother Johnson’s government poetry and thanked the councilman for elevating the event with his presence. “And uh, it goes without saying, we have, I think, a remarkable council liaison in Dr. Rahman Johnson. I think it’s just fantastic, uh that, uh, your speech, and, and your being here with us today,” Ford said. He also thanked his “special friend” the new $700,000 lady CEO of JEA, whom he affectionately calls “Megawatt.”
Ford told the crowd the NAVI is “a symbol of our unwavering commitment to lead with innovation and to pursue efficiency without compromise.” JTA’s CEO pinky promises they are only doing this for his subjects because they have a servant’s heart. “I want to assure the citizens of this community and those visiting our great city, that we are putting you at the forefront of every decision that we make. Every decision, every technology we adopt is driven by our desire to serve you better,” Ford said.
Watch AIC ceremony here:
After years of telling themselves that and spending untold millions in public money, I am left flabbergasted at what I experienced on NAVI Launch Day, and so is Nelson.
“I am stunned, perhaps most of all by the overall low quality of the experience,” he expressed.
Nelson wrote, “witnessing all the years of work and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars result in a product that appears no better, perhaps even worse, than the very first Test & Learn demonstrations in 2016, or the Armsdale Facility demonstrations in 2021, or the experimental pilots elsewhere heightens my disappointment in this city’s leaders, at JTA and elsewhere.”
Nelson believes the city’s ruling class has “truly made an egregious, spectacular waste of the public good,” and points out, “those who have marched us to this outcome over these many years, ought to feel enormous shame for this final product,” he wrote.
I couldn’t agree more.
My NAVI Launch Day experience felt as though I was a part of a carefully crafted, rehearsed skit. Everything presented was a diversion tactic, as I was clearly being handled the whole time, with good reason. Our ruling class doesn’t want us to figure out the NAVI is really a $65 million park and ride system, moving a very small amount of people across a walkable distance. This whole thing is our version of The Simpson’s Monorail episode, but worse because it is actually happening. It is not only happening, but those responsible keep telling us our lives will improve, and downtown will be transformed into a bustling metropolis of the future because government robo vans can potentially carry nine people from the west side of the stadium to the performing arts center and back again, for $20 million per mile.
Despite all the efforts, NAVI Launch Day couldn’t hide JTA’s half-million-dollar, fully autonomous electric vehicle needed an autonomous vehicle technology kit, a driver, ride ambassador, mandatory seatbelts, separate vehicle escort, and a $12 million command center to mosey up and down one portion of one road and a smidge of a few others.
I am embarrassed for them. And I am embarrassed for our City.
Ford told us the NAVI is “remarkable.” It isn’t remarkable, it’s potentially DANGEROUS. Even city engineers pointed out the obvious to which JTA is still oblivious.
The city of Jacksonville must pull the emergency brake on Ford’s not so savvy NAVI before it autonomously smashes, tech kit first, into the AIC’s pearly gates. Hypothetically, of course.
All kidding aside – stop the transportation scam on the people AGAIN.
Wasn’t the skyway to nowhere enough?
