A driverless bus carrying 22 volunteer passengers has completed a successful trial journey over the Forth Road Bridge.
The Dunfermline Press reports the UK’s first full-size autonomous Stagecoach bus made the journey for as part of the testing process.
Once operational, the driverless service will be made up of four Alexander Dennis Enviro200 single deck buses running a 14-mile route crossing the Forth Road Bridge. It will provide capacity for up to 10,000 passengers a week, connecting Ferrytoll Park & Ride in Fife with the Edinburgh Park transport hub.
The four Enviro200 buses, which will feature the special new livery, are currently being fitted out with Fusion Processing Ltd’s automated drive system; CAVstar. CAVstar is a ground-breaking Automated Driving System (ADS) that combines Radar, LiDAR, optical cameras with high performance processing and AI to enable the buses to operate at SAE Level 4 in the highly complex Operational Design Domain that includes motorways, A-roads, minor roads, bus lanes, roundabouts, junctions and traffic lights.
The newspaper adds that, as part of the extensive testing process, Stagecoach invited a group of passengers from its Co-Design Panel to travel on the route to get feedback and share any views or improvements ahead of the full public launch of the service in the spring.
The volunteers are a diverse group of local bus-users who have agreed to help Stagecoach and its project partners design how an autonomous bus service should work.
(Picture – CAVForth)
