According to the operator, 5 buses will run on a route of 22.5 km. (Representative)
Queensferry, United Kingdom:
The UK will launch its first driverless bus network in Scotland next week, with drivers on standby behind the steering wheel, ready to take control in an emergency.
The service, which aims to carry 10,000 passengers a week on five single-deck buses over a 14-mile (22.5-kilometre) route, will be the world’s first automated local bus service, its operator said.
Peter Stevens, director of policy for the Stagecoach bus service, told AFP after a demonstration: “The autonomous technology on this bus has been tested before, but this is the first time it has been put on a bus that is now a registered local bus service.” Is.” near Edinburgh.
Starting Monday, the buses, which will travel at up to 50 mph, will have a safety driver with monitoring technology, as required by UK law, which does not yet allow fully autonomous vehicles.
Drivers don’t touch the controls when the vehicles are in autonomous mode, and a conductor handles onboard ticketing and passenger inquiries.
Onboard systems will detect other road users to prevent collisions, while optical cameras and radar will scan the road to check for pedestrians.
The control system includes an artificial intelligence engine that receives information from the entire bus to determine its exact location and calculate the safest route to its destination.
Stevens said the service will be safer, more fuel efficient and provide a better experience for customers.
‘technological revolution’
“The system is designed to enhance security,” he said.
“The driver’s got 360-degree vision now, and the system can react faster than a human in terms of reaction time.
“There’s always going to be a safety driver in the seat even when the bus is driving itself. So if they need to take control, they can take control.”
Stevens said the buses will continuously learn routes and collect thousands of hours of data a month.
“As soon as the service starts, we will collect more data and then we will increase the amount of autonomous travel,” he said.
Bus driver Callum Jones said the service was “something new, exciting to see, part of our technological revolution”.
“It’s good,” he said.
A driverless bus was tested last year in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, in what engineers said was aimed at making people feel more comfortable with driverless vehicles on the roads.
A driverless electric bus is set to begin operating in Malaga, Spain in 2021, with Singapore starting to test self-driving buses earlier in the year in a project offered for the first time in Europe.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
