UK’s First Driverless Shuttlebus Makes Next-Gen History on Capital’s Streets
Local Editor
Forget the bus and the tube, London has a new mode of public transport - the capital is about to experience a driverless shuttlebus, which hits the streets Wednesday, April 5.
The UK public will get the first extended trial of the driverless shuttlebus over the next three weeks, the trial which is called "Project Gateway," will allow around 100 people to travel in a prototype shuttle on a route in Greenwich, London.
The shuttlebus, which has been created and manufactured by Oxbotica, a company which specializes in developing the next generation of autonomous vehicles, have named the driverless bus Caesium. It falls in to the company's fleet management system, and is run from a cloud-based system that will schedule and co-ordinate the autonomous vehicles. This system will enable smartphone booking, route optimization and data exchange between the vehicles without human intervention.
The shuttlebus can be operated remotely and with ease, the bus operator can view information about the shuttle, whether it is in motion or stationary. The operator can also look at the amount of battery remaining and the temperature of key components. All of this can be seen from the iPad that's running Caesium. An operator can cancel autonomy at the touch of a button as well as request maintenance.
Chief Executive of Oxbotica, Dr. Graeme Smith, said that this is a unique experience and those who are lucky to have a go on the driverless shuttlebus are in for a surprise.
"We hope to gain acceptance from members of the public for vehicles sharing this kind of space with them. We are also looking at how people in the vehicle respond when being transported from A to B," Smith said in a recent interview.
Autonomous cars are considered to be the future of automobiles in spite of numerous concerns about their safety. According to some experts, driverless transport may solve the issue of traffic jams, accidents and provide people with additional time, currently being spent driving.
At the CeBIT 5-day event in Hanover, Germany researchers presented a driverless bus, being tested in Switzerland and France for nine months.
The driverless shuttlebus can see up to 100m ahead and comes to a steady stop, if it detects something in its path - although it can also do an emergency brake, if required.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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