(TNS) — The first self-driving shuttles in Ohio will hit the streets in Columbus this week.

May Mobility, a Michigan-based start-up, will operate the shuttles as part of an initiative announced in July by Smart Columbus and DriveOhio.

"We're proud to have the first self-driving shuttle in Ohio being tested on the streets of Columbus," Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said in a news release. "This pilot will shape future uses of this emerging technology in Columbus and the nation."

Connected vehicle technology is coming to Columbus, Ohio, in the hopes of making a large swath of the city safer for motorists as well as pedestrians and cyclists.

The city is moving forward with a demonstration project to connect up to 1,800 private and public vehicles, as well as upgrade some 113 signalized intersections with technology to better manage traffic as well as improve safety.

“The purpose of life is not to increase its velocity.” – Gandhi

My ancestors came to America from the southern regions of Italy and populated New York City, as well as many small towns in Upstate New York and Pennsylvania. It surprised people unfamiliar with the unique and specifically local and regional nature of Italy that, even though I am of Italian ancestry, I did not visit Venice in northern Italy until I was nearly 40 years old.

I was there for my honeymoon. It was a glorious, sunny day. The Grand Canal and especially the Rialto Bridge at dusk captured me like love itself, and though northern and southern Italy are as different as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, I knew I had, in some deep sense, returned “home.”

My new wife and I were headed to the site of La Fenice, the iconic opera house which had mysteriously burned to the ground in the late 1990s. She loves opera and I love walking in cities and meeting people.

Taxi companies in Columbus, Ohio, may want to start thinking about trading in at least a few old gas-guzzlers for a shiny, new, quiet, electric sedan.

Smart Columbus, the arm of the city charged with growing innovative approaches to transportation, is making up to $120,000 in rebate money available to taxi operators who switch out old gas-powered cars for electric vehicles.

City innovation chief Michael Stevens is managing half a billion dollars' worth of investments in electric vehicles, new transit and a data platform. He tells StateScoop the technology needs to work for everyone.

Columbus, Ohio, is far from a backwater. It’s a city of 860,000 residents, home to one of the biggest public universities in the country and capital of one of the top manufacturing states. But it’s not exactly top-of-mind when you think of the ideal 21st-century city.

Set to open this June in Ohio, the Smart Columbus Experience Center will offer the public an up-close look at the city's tech-centric transportation plans.

The aim is to offer the public a hands-on experience to learn more about any mystifying technology. Visitors will be able to test drive a range of electric cars in hopes that it eases any concerns they have about the technology. The center will also showcase cutting edge and sustainable technologies. According to the Columbus website, the goal is to improve people's quality of life, drive growth in the economy, provide better access to jobs, and foster sustainability.

The brains behind any great device or process generally rest on a great operating system.

Officials involved in Columbus, Ohio’s nationally-watched smart city initiative are moving forward with developing an operating system to support an ambitious coterie of applications to improve mobility, citizen engagement and equity for all the city’s residents.

“We see this as the backbone and the heart of the Smart Columbus portfolio of projects,” said Brandi Braun, Columbus' deputy innovation officer.

Apparently, the capital of the Buckeye state has more going on than drunken college students howling at their college football team every weekend. A new analysis from Yelp and Realtor.com has determined via the wonders of big data that Columbus, Ohio is where it’s at for hipsters.

In other words: Take your hipster beards and avocado toast and suck it, San Francisco.

Columbus has ranked No. 1 on CBRE Research’s third annual ranking of top tech talent in small markets and No. 5 on SmartAsset’s list of Top 10 Cities for Tech Workers.

Then look at it in terms of where information technology has opportunity for immediate application in a wide variety of local and global industries, and the Columbus Region offers distinct advantages that can’t be matched even in Silicon Valley, industry observers contend.

Video game development is serious business, and its champions believe it will be big business in central Ohio.

Video games are big business. In Ohio alone, they’re $43 million big. Globally, we’re talking $91 billion—more than the music and movie industries combined—and growing rapidly.

It’s an industry that extends far beyond entertainment games. It includes creative technology such as mobile experiences, virtual reality, eSports, 3D printing and motion capture, and it has the potential to reach into nearly every other industry.