Beep, Beep: Electric-autonomous shuttle service drives into MSU this Friday with ribbon cutting
Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum will cut the ribbon for the university’s official recognition of its new electric-autonomous shuttle system this Friday [Sept. 20].
Officials from Beep Inc.—the new system’s provider—along with representatives from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, will join Keenum for this first-of-its-kind vehicle deployment in the Southeastern Conference and Magnolia State. The 3 p.m. event is scheduled directly behind College View residence hall at 385 College View Drive in the amphitheater area, and Keenum is expected to take a brief shuttle ride.
Two Beep shuttles, which will seat up to 11 passengers, including an attendant, will hold testing and training runs the week of Sept. 23 before officially beginning two routes transporting riders between the campus’s core, key housing locations and popular entertainment destinations. Along with MDOT, the National Highway Safety Administration recently granted approval for the program, a campus and community pilot project evaluating how the vehicles complement other modes of transportation.
MSU’s Executive Director of Transportation Jeremiah Dumas, said, “While these are equipped with AI-enabled remote human supervision and self-governance, they also have an in-person attendant and won’t travel on roads allowing more than 25 miles per hour.”
Dumas pointed to other Beep shuttle usages at Yellowstone National Park, the Honolulu, Hawaii airport, and adjacent to the Atlanta Braves stadium. “Everywhere they’re deployed, people love them,” he said.
Beep, Inc.—a leading provider of autonomous and electric shared mobility solutions—is expected to provide MSU the vehicles throughout the tentative pilot period of Sept. 23-Nov. 30.
“For Mississippi State to lead in applying this type of technology is expected because we’re already a national and global leader in the research realm of unmanned and autonomous vehicles,” Dumas emphasized.
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