Our very own Selmon Expressway, as we know, is among the national venues chosen by researchers to study the safety and performance of automated vehicles–aka “driverless cars.” These vehicles will be tested on the Selmon’s elevated lanes during non-peak hours when officials can close the lanes to regular traffic.
“We think this is a coming revolution in transportation,” explained Joe Waggoner, the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority’s executive director… . “What it comes down to is moving it into practice. We want to know what it takes and be a part of it.
“…And, frankly, it only seems appropriate to do it here,” added Waggoner. “We’re a major metro area in a state that still thinks that texting while driving is a secondary offense, if that. So, in an ironic way, we’re already pretty familiar with the driverless-car concept.”