100,000th Rider Spotlight: Arlington, Texas

In March 2021, May Mobility’s RAPID AV service launched in Arlington, Texas, which just hit 100,000 rides. We connected with our 100,000th rider, Ravi Krishnan, to see what he had to say about May Mobility.

Ravi is currently a student at the University of Texas-Arlington finishing his Master's in Information Systems degree.

How did you find out about the RAPID AV service and how long have you been riding?

I’ve been riding since January 2024. Some seniors at school told me about how they use it to get to campus and recommended I try it out because I was walking at least a couple of miles every day to get to and from my classes. It was easy to enroll and start using it and now I ride it throughout the week.

How was your first experience in an autonomous vehicle?

When I learned about it, and when I first experienced a ride, it was so good. Actually, I was just amazed. Experimenting with autonomous vehicles around campus, and also giving free rides to the students, it's a good thing. It benefits the student community while giving May Mobility valuable experience around campus. So I was just amazed by this idea.

Has anything pleasantly surprised you about riding in an autonomous vehicle?

It is so good. Whenever a person just comes in front, it automatically stops. So it is all so good even though we are just evolving this technology. Sometimes humans might make an error, but technology won't make an error while driving. It may take precautionary steps and stops, but there won't be any accidents due to this technology. So it is nice to have this.

Why do you find RAPID AV useful?

Riding in the autonomous vehicles is especially helpful when I have my exams and classes. It saves me lots of time. If I were to walk, it takes me around 30 minutes to get to class. If I use a RAPID autonomous vehicle, it just takes me five to 10 minutes maximum.

Is there anything else you want to tell us about RAPID AV while we're here?

The service is evolving correctly, as we hoped. At the beginning of my usage, there were fewer vehicles and the availability was too low. Us students are always talking about things in between classes, and one day, when we were speaking about this, we realized that we were all getting rides easily. So, the service is constantly improving and it’s so good.