According to organizers~, it is a first for autonomous transportation: computer-driven buses running on a real route with real passengers managing real traffic. However, don’t refer to Edinburgh’s new autonomous buses, which began service today, as “driverless.” They have not one, but two transport employees, which is twice the number required for a traditional bus in Scotland’s bustling city.
This is why this daring move toward the future of public transit remains very much an experiment a multi-year study geared as much at assuaging the public as it is at testing new technologies. “When the technology is completely signed off, and we’re allowed to take the driver out of the cab, he’ll be able to move around the saloon, engage with passengers, check tickets, keep the service successful, that kind of thing,” said Steven Russell, 34, an innovation manager for Stagecoach Scotland, one of the United Kingdom’s largest bus operators. The company equipped five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV vehicles with self-driving technology.
However, until then, passengers may be forgiven for dismissing Scotland’s driverless buses as a novelty. Organizers expect that the technology would eventually reduce human error, resulting in fewer traffic accidents and deaths. In addition, by reducing the need for human drivers, organizers want to lower expenses, making bus systems more accessible to smaller towns and cities that cannot now afford to provide public transit. Each bus is outfitted with approximately 20 sensors, cameras, and radars, as well as a sophisticated satellite-linked global positioning system.
Every thirty minutes, a bus will travel a 14-mile route that includes “a variety of complex traffic maneuvers such as roundabouts, traffic lights, and ‘weaving’ motorway lane changes,” according to Fusion. Fusion CEO Jim Hutchinson advised concerned passengers to remember the computer’s benefits over human drivers: The autonomous driver is not required to monitor blind spots and is not distracted. The sensors never light up. Officials from Fusion and Stagecoach note that while the service is currently experimental, the buses have only been on the road after comprehensive testing: the buses have undergone ten years of research and development and over 1.1 million miles in testing.
If the pilot is successful, organizers intend to bring similar technology to four more cities in the United Kingdom before the end of the year. The project’s many corporations and government organizations believe that increased adoption will prompt the kind of legislative and legal changes that would eventually result in a fully “driverless” bus route. “We still understand that we need to ensure that, you know, the public comes along with us on this,” Hutchinson explained. “So I believe there is still work to be done on that front.” But, you know, the technology is finally ready.”
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