A Rhode Trip: Lessons for the Future of Mobility From the Little Roady Autonomous Microtransit Pilot
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Summary
This report evaluates the "Little Roady" autonomous vehicle (AV) microtransit pilot, a public-private partnership coordinated by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) from May 2019 to June 2020. The project aimed to safely introduce AV technology in Rhode Island, provide first/last-mile transportation linkages along the Woonasquatucket Corridor, and assess public user experiences. The pilot operated a free daily shuttle service on a 5.3-mile, twelve-stop loop, utilizing vehicles provided by May Mobility. The research sought to understand attitudes toward AVs, rider engagement, workforce impacts, and overall pilot performance. The study employed a mixed-methods approach involving national and regional surveys (N=1,500), baseline and ongoing rider/non-rider surveys (N=1,089), and 64 interviews with riders, stakeholders, and fleet attendants. Researchers also conducted 349 field observations at stops and 434 in-shuttle observations, alongside analysis of operational data via RESTful API. The pilot faced significant disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated a transition to non-AV shuttles operated by RIPTA in May 2020. Findings indicate that ridership increased steadily until the pandemic-related service disruption. Operational reliability improved over time, with infrequent and generally minor incidents. However, technology performance was limited; field observations revealed that approximately 40% of half-route trips were run entirely in manual mode, with average time in AV mode typically less than half the route duration. Common reasons for manual overrides included unprotected turns, heavy traffic, and construction. Public perception was sophisticated and generally positive, with prior AV experience correlating with higher interest in ridership. Fleet attendants reported positive job experiences but required ongoing training to maximize AV mode usage. The report concludes that while AVs offer potential for multimodal networks and equity, the industry is not yet fully ready for complex urban deployments. A critical finding was the challenge of the public-private partnership structure, specifically regarding data sharing limitations that hindered the analysis of technology performance and costs. The authors recommend that future pilots establish clear data governance, align success metrics early, and prioritize user-centered design. They emphasize that public sectors must lead in setting precedents for transparency and operational control to ensure AV deployments serve the public good.
Key finding
The Little Roady pilot demonstrated improving AV mode reliability and positive rider perceptions, but significant data sharing limitations from the private operator hindered comprehensive analysis of technology performance and costs.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Sample size: 1089
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Methodological Resource: dataset resource