May Mobility is deploying autonomous vehicles differently than its peers. Rather than operate robotaxis for individual ride-hail, May has followed a “gentle onramp” approach to commercialization by offering on-demand shuttles and pooled rides within campuses and along uncomplicated routes.
The startup announced Wednesday the launch of its first fully driverless commercial service in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. The city falls in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where May intends to launch its autonomous vehicles on the Lyft app later this year.
May has been operating a free on-demand autonomous vehicle shuttle service since September 2024 along along Technology Parkway, a 3-mile stretch of road dedicated to AVs in Peachtree Corners. But these rides have had a human safety operator behind the wheel.
Now, May has removed the human safety operator and is charging for rides.
Peachtree Corners marks May’s third driverless deployment in the United States. The startup first launched a driverless service in Sun City, Arizona, a planned community for retired adults, in December 2023. Nearly a year later in November 2024, May launched a small-scale deployment of autonomous shuttles in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
May’s service zone in Georgia includes eight pre-set stops along Technology Parkway, including at destinations like hotels, retail shops, office spaces, and City Hall. May’s operating area is in a particularly tech-centric part of Atlanta.
Technology Parkway, a 5G-enabled 3-mile autonomous vehicle test track, is the centerpiece of Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, a city-owned and operated living laboratory designed as a proving ground for technology. This road is also outfitted with cellular vehicle-to-everything technology that’s meant to provide AVs with low latency and high-bandwidth connectivity for remote assistance.
Beep, another startup with a similar mission, has also operated a shuttle service along the same route. TechCrunch has reached out to Beep to learn if the company is still present in the city.
May intends to continue expanding slowly towards the city’s town center, according to Brian Johnson, Peachtree Corners’s city manager.
TechCrunch has reached out to May to learn how much the shared rides will cost, and how many rides per day the company had been doing until now.
The shuttle is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and each vehicle — a Toyota Sienna Autono-Maas — can hold up to five passengers at a time. Riders can book trips to any of the eight stops via the May Mobility app, which is powered by transit tech company Via.
