As Waymo tests self-driving vehicles in Minneapolis, Grand Rapids embraces autonomous rides
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Minnesota's Connected and Automated Vehicle Advisory Council is meeting Thursday to talk about autonomous vehicle regulation, just as autonomous rideshare company Waymo announced it’s looking to expand service to Minneapolis. That’s prompted concerns about the vehicles navigating winter weather.
But AVs aren’t totally foreign to Minnesota. A rural pilot program offering free, on-demand autonomous transit began three years ago in Grand Rapids. Mesabi resident Aaron Brown, editorial columnist with the Minnesota Star Tribune, wrote about it recently and joined Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition.
“It’s a Minnesota-based company that kind of organized this really grant-funded project,” goMARTI, Brown said. “And they chose Grand Rapids because it was in Minnesota; they wanted to find a small town where things were kind of spread out a little bit in a certain way; they wanted to experiment in the snow, and in different seasons; and they also really wanted to highlight disability services.”
The vans are everywhere in that community. Brown said. “I'm driving around them all the time. In fact, they're as ubiquitous as a police car or a delivery van.”
Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.
RELATED: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/10/23/gomarti-transportation-service-grand-rapids-rural-tribal-communities
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