Why aren’t we applying self-driving technology to public transport?
The first self-driving bus in the United Kingdom, developed by a company called Fusion Processing, begins road tests this week, initially without passengers and with a safety driver, on a route of about 22-km near Edinburgh that takes in the 2.5 km-long Forth Road suspension bridge.
The company expects the passengerless road tests to last around two weeks, and a regular service with passengers could start around summer. The trial run is not the first in Europe: that honor belongs to the Spanish city of Malaga, which began to develop an 8-km route between the city center and the port with a 60-seater twelve-meter-long electric bus, also with a safety driver, and fitted with myriad sensors that allow it to operate completely autonomously. Trials have already taken place in other cities, but mostly with minibuses rather than standard-sized buses.
Autonomous driving applied to buses is much less complex than it is for cars: the route and stops are fixed, which reduces the investment in micromapping, directions and signs can be displayed on the road surface — the ride is not fast, and the size and weight of the vehicle gives passengers a greater sense of security. However, while there are already fleets of fully autonomous and driverless cars operating in completely normal traffic conditions in areas of…
