Auve Tech’s MiCa at Mizner Park, Boca Raton

The City of Boca Raton has officially launched MiCa autonomous shuttle in Mizner Park. The vehicle is delivered by Estonian start-up Auve Tech, who is a leading developer of Level 4 autonomous mobility in Europe. The project introduces a fully autonomous, self-driving transport to one of South Florida’s busiest downtown areas, led by Auve Tech, Circuit, and Guident. Auve Tech’s MiCa becomes Boca Raton’s first fare-free autonomous shuttle, beginning operation on a short loop within Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida.

The initial service focuses on short, predictable trips between restaurants, shops, and cultural venues, giving residents and visitors a convenient way to experience autonomous mobility. City communications also highlight the potential to extend the route into a 2.6-mile corridor between Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place. This journey would turn MiCa into a key downtown connector and complement Boca Raton’s existing BocaConnect electric shuttle network.

City leaders highlighted the launch as a significant turning point. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Council Member and CRA Chair Marc Widger stated, “Welcome to the future of mobility in Boca Raton.” Nat Ford, CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, placed the milestone in a broader statewide context: “Congratulations to the City of Boca Raton, Guident, Circuit Transit, and Auve Tech for this milestone as it relates to mobility in our state. Today marks more than the launch of a new shuttle — it marks the beginning of a new chapter of connected, sustainable mobility in South Florida. It demonstrates leadership, courage, innovation, and a willingness to pilot the transportation technologies of the future.”

For Auve Tech, Boca Raton serves as the newest proving ground for MiCa, its next-generation autonomous shuttle. MiCa is an 8-seat, fully electric vehicle with a compact 4.2-meter footprint, a top speed limited to 25 km/h, and a 17.6 kWh battery that supports up to 20 hours of daily operation using 22 kW AC charging.

Safety and reliability are central to its design. Seven lidar sensors and multiple cameras provide full 360-degree perception, critical systems are redundantly engineered to prevent single-point failures, and substantial effort has gone into cybersecurity hardening. Passenger-focused features include air conditioning, double doors, and built-in support for teleoperation and remote monitoring.

MiCa arrives in Florida with substantial global experience. The company’s autonomous shuttles have operated in at least a dozen countries, often on public roads, including Nordic cities, Middle Eastern deployments, and rural and resort services in Japan. In 2024, MiCa received approval for driverless (Level 4) operation in Taki Town, Japan. It is one of the industry’s most rigorous regulatory environments and roughly twenty of the company’s MiCa shuttles now operate daily routes across several Japanese municipalities. This combination of mixed-weather testing and dense urban use is now informing the shuttle’s entry into the U.S. market.

In Boca Raton, Auve Tech’s  MiCa joins a mobility ecosystem where Circuit already operates the BocaConnect electric shuttle and other on-demand services. Circuit provides local operations, staffing, and community engagement, while MiCa brings an autonomous vehicle optimized for short urban circulation. Circuit’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Esposito, highlighted that continuity: “We’re moving thousands, we’re creating local jobs, we’re encouraging economic activity, and we’re reducing emissions, congestion, and noise pollution in a cost-effective way. MiCa builds on this. Partnering with Guident and Auve Tech builds on our existing services and allows us to introduce new services and technologies to this growing community.”

For Boca Raton, MiCa is a highly visible step in a broader multimodal strategy. The city emphasizes that the shuttle is fare-free, electric, and designed for short downtown trips, which is part of an effort to create safer streets, cleaner air, and better access to Mizner Park’s cultural and commercial amenities. Regional media have praised the initiative as a “smart step forward,” noting that it serves riders who cannot drive, prefer not to drive, or wish to leave their vehicles parked, while giving the city a real-world test bed for future routes and technologies.

As Auve Tech’s MiCa begins daily service in Mizner Park, the company’s immediate goal is straightforward: deliver reliable uptime, safe performance, and a positive rider experience on a modest loop, then scale based on operational data rather than expectation. Ultimately, the true measure of success will be cultural rather than technical. When local residents stop referring to MiCa as the “autonomous shuttle” and start calling it simply “the shuttle,” signaling that autonomy has become not a novelty, but an accepted, everyday part of Boca Raton’s transportation network.