Linden LEAP Autonomous Shuttle Pilot

Smart Columbus launched the Linden LEAP on 5 February 2020: two EasyMile EZ10 shuttles, free to ride and each carrying a safety operator, on a roughly three-mile route with four stops linking the Linden Transit Center, St. Stephen's Community House, the Douglas recreation center and the Rosewind resident council. Fifteen days later a shuttle braked hard as it pulled away from a stop at 7.1 mph; a passenger fell from her seat with minor injuries, and NHTSA suspended all 16 EasyMile shuttles then operating in the US. Smart Columbus later attributed the stop to a deviation in the steering system. NHTSA cleared EasyMile to carry passengers again in May 2020 after seatbelts and signage were added, but Columbus never resumed passenger service, citing the pandemic; the shuttles spent their remaining months delivering food-pantry boxes.