More self-driving vehicles are being shown off in the D.C. region.
They include one known as “Tony” — short for “to navigate you,” said Dave Hofert, of Perrone Robotics.
The company created the vehicle by adding self-driving equipment to a Polaris Gem shuttle. The autonomous vehicle just finished up a trial run in Crozet, Virginia, where it gave rides between a residential area and downtown.
Tony was shown off at the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Autonomous Technology Summit, along with a Chevy Bolt modified by students at Virginia Tech. That vehicle is part of a national competition between schools to develop a fully autonomous vehicle.
The car “can be autonomous in a ton of different weather conditions, different road conditions,” said student Mitch Gerhardt. “We can detect signage, we can detect obstacles on the road.”
![The Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Autonomous Technology Summit featured different self-driving cars. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving_3.jpg)
![Virginia Tech's self-driving car model is part of a national competition between schools to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving.jpg)
![TONY” -- short for “to navigate you,” -- jus finished up a trial run in Crozet, Virginia. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving_2.jpg)
![TONY can drive itself along a set route. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving_4.jpg)
![The Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Autonomous Technology Summit featured different self-driving cars. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving_3-260x174.jpg)
![Virginia Tech's self-driving car model is part of a national competition between schools to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving-260x174.jpg)
![TONY” -- short for “to navigate you,” -- jus finished up a trial run in Crozet, Virginia. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving_2-260x174.jpg)
![TONY can drive itself along a set route. (WTOP/John Aaron)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/110719_self_driving_4-260x174.jpg)
Already in the region, self-driving shuttles have run at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, and in Maryland’s National Harbor.
A self-driving shuttle is also planned to run between the Dunn Loring Metro and the Mosaic District in Fairfax County.
While the shuttles do drive themselves, for now, a human stays on board to override any choices the autonomous vehicles make.