piloted
v.v. to test a new idea, product, or program on a small group of people before starting it everywhere. You do this to see if it works well and to find any problems early.
v. to test a scheme, project, or product on a limited scale before full implementation. Transitive; refers to the experimental phase of a rollout to assess feasibility and gather data.
The school piloted a new lunch program last month.
The city council piloted a bike-sharing scheme in the downtown area to gauge public interest before expanding it to the suburbs.
Before committing the entire annual budget to the initiative, the department piloted the software in three regional offices to identify potential integration hurdles and user experience bottlenecks.
The verb is transitive and requires a direct object, typically a project, program, or system.