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Autonomous shuttle plans roll into Bellevue

BELLEVUE, Wash. — The city of Bellevue is taking a major step forward to help commuters.

And it will start with autonomous shuttles.

"There will be a lot of time that elapses before you see a van that will be going around without anybody in the front seat,” Steve Marshall, transportation technology partnership manager with the city of Bellevue, said.

Marshall told KIRO 7 technology today has gotten to the point where we could see autonomous vehicles on the roads very soon on the east side.

"It may be years before autonomous vehicles can go anywhere you want,” said Marshall. “If you press a button [and] say, ‘I want to go to Tenino or whatever’ … that could take a while."

Marshall said safety is their top priority. The city of Bellevue is working on getting people into a driverless van at a prearranged pickup point.

"Then they [commuters would] go up into Bellevue or Kirkland - near where they work - and they get dropped off,” said Marshall. “[The] same thing happens in reverse [for those commuters]."

Last June, Gov. Jay Inslee issued an executive order that would allow driverless vehicles to test-drive on Washington state roads.

Marshall and the team are working on a grant that will be submitted to the Federal Government on Monday that targets the 1-405 and 167 corridor.

The goal is to get the region's big employers involved.

"We have a number of people that will be looking at the metrics, and reporting back to the federal government as required under the grant on how this is all working out,” said Marshall.

"With all [of] the problems on I-405, it could take 45 minutes to get home,” Charlie Kling, who works and lives in Bellevue, said. “If we had autonomous vehicles, I could be productive during that time and let the car drive me home."

As we roll into the future, these driverless vehicles of tomorrow could be far more capable than any human driver today.

"We need some controls, regulations and oversight to make sure accidents are kept to a minimum," said Zarqa Javed, who works in Bellevue.

Bellevue City Council is holding a meeting on Monday, June 18, at 6 p.m., where they will discuss the autonomous shuttle project.

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