West Palm Beach Could Get a Driverless Network From PBI to Downtown, Courtesy of Glydways

• Glydways wants to build a roughly four-mile driverless network linking Palm Beach International Airport to Downtown West Palm Beach.
• Riders would book individual pods that go straight to their stop, no transfers, no shared route.
• Six planned stations: the Convention Center, CityPlace, the Brightline station, the County Courthouse, NORA and Historic Northwest.
• Palm Beach County commissioners take up the proposal July 7 to decide whether it's worth exploring further.

A Pod, Not a Train

California-based Glydways wants to connect Palm Beach International Airport to Downtown West Palm Beach with a network of driverless pods running on roughly four miles of dedicated, mostly ground-level guideway with some elevated sections. The pitch skips the transfer-and-wait model of rail entirely: each rider's pod runs nonstop to their chosen stop, point to point, on a track no other vehicle touches.

Founded in 2016, Glydways has built its pipeline around exactly this model, small autonomous vehicles it calls Glydcars, running on narrow guideways instead of full rail beds. The company has raised $76 million across two rounds and already has projects moving in Atlanta, San Jose and East Contra Costa County, California, plus an MOU in Dubai.

Six Stops Through the Core

The West Palm Beach route would thread six stations from the airport into downtown: the Palm Beach County Convention Center, CityPlace, the Brightline station, the Palm Beach County Courthouse, the NORA District and the Historic Northwest neighborhood. That lineup hits the city's convention, retail, rail and government anchors in one line, plus two neighborhoods Glydways and the county would need to win over on the ground.

The Cost Argument, Tested Elsewhere

Glydways' pitch to every city it courts is the same: dedicated guideways cost a fraction of laying rail, so the system can get built faster and cheaper. The track record is mixed so far. In South Metro Atlanta, the company's half-mile demonstration pilot near Hartsfield-Jackson came in around $23 million, split between a $10 million MARTA contribution, a $3 million ATL grant and the rest from private partners, and it's set to open free rides in December. In San Jose, the math has gone the other way: a roughly three-mile airport-to-Diridon Station connector that Glydways is building with Plenary Americas has ballooned to an estimated $500 million, and city staff have flagged that San Jose could owe $30 million to $40 million just to advance the design phase.

What's Next

Palm Beach County commissioners are scheduled to discuss the Glydways proposal July 7, deciding whether the county explores it further rather than approving anything outright. Glydways estimates a system could be operational within five years if the project moves forward, a timeline that would put it roughly in line with the company's other US builds. West Palm Beach already has a taste of the technology: a 0.9-mile autonomous shuttle pilot has been running through CityPlace downtown since last year, a head start that could shape how commissioners receive a much bigger ask.