Seattle suburb envisions a fleet of driverless vans to help commuters skirt congestion

Two self-driving shuttle buses are expected to go into service carrying passengers on the University of Michigan's North Campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., in late April 2018. Navya's shuttles are electrically powered. (Mark Phelan/Detroit Free Press/TNS)

BELLEVUE, Washington: Just this month, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a driverless van began shuttling students and staff the one-mile round trip between a research complex and a distant parking lot and bus stop. 

In Las Vegas, an autonomous van launched last year, taking curious passengers on a three-block loop between a downtown retail park and Las Vegas Boulevard.