A group of volunteer passengers have become the first in the UK to travel on a full-size, self-driving bus on public roads.
In the vicinity of Edinburgh, the volunteers crossed the Forth Road Bridge on an autonomous Stagecoach single-decker.
Five autonomous buses would travel en route between Edinburgh and the capital as part of the trial initiative.
The test was deemed successful by the public transport, Stagecoach, which plans to introduce the full service in the spring.
For the first road test, local bus users were invited to participate.
“I wasn’t worried at all about it. You wouldn’t know the difference between this and a normal bus from the driving”, one of the passengers, Fleur Dijkman, said.
The test follows successful trials at a depot, track testing and virtual simulation.
The CAVForth project, which aims to have five self-driving buses run scheduled routes between the Ferrytoll park-and-ride in Fife and the Edinburgh Park train and tram interchange, included the pilot as part of its objectives.
The buses will cover the 14-mile route in mixed traffic at speeds of up to 50mph, with capacity for about 10,000 journeys per week.
The vehicles feature sensors that allow them to follow pre-planned routes without a driver taking over.
When fully operational, each bus will have a driver overseeing the operation and a bus captain assisting passengers with boarding and ticketing.
Stagecoach, in collaboration with Fusion Processing, Alexander Dennis, and Transport Scotland, is in charge of the CAVForth project.
The UK government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles has also provided financial assistance for the program.
According to Ivan McKee, the Scottish government’s business minister, “This is another hugely significant step forward for the CAVForth project that brings us closer to these autonomous vehicles entering service.”
Stagecoach’s operations director and lead project manager for CAVForth, Louise Simpson, declared that the trial had been a success and that the company planned to roll out the autonomous service in the spring.
Author-Roberta Appiah
