Published on: May 12, 2023
Vehicles are driven automatically by sensors and onboard computers; The company now has five in its fleet
Alexandre Peleki
Stagecoach, the largest operator of buses, passenger transport and trains in the United Kingdom, will operate a line of autonomous buses in Edinburgh, Scotland next week.
Vehicles manufactured by Alexander Dennis, diesel powered Enviro200AV model.
oh Traffic diary It announced the move a month ago. Remember:
Escócia iniciará em 15 de maio testes com frota de cinco ônibus autônomos
From Monday 15 May 2023, the driverless vehicles will be operated at speeds of up to 80 km/h across the iconic Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh on a 23 km stretch of mixed traffic.
In future, Stagecoach plans to introduce electric buses to replace these diesel vehicles.
With the sensor-driven driving pattern, less tire and brake wear is expected, requiring less maintenance and less fuel consumption.
Two qualified drivers will be on board. One of them will be ready to take over if needed. Another will be available to passengers to check tickets and answer questions about the vehicle and its autonomous operation.
The trials are a joint project of CAVForth, Fusion Processing, Stagecoach, Alexander Dennis, Transport Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Bristol Robotics Lab.
A project aimed at Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – CCAV), partially funded by the UK Government, CAVForth is one of the most complex in the world and the first registered service to use it. Buses are fully self-contained.
Passenger-less testing of these self-driving buses will begin in April 2022 for a two-week period. Passengers were first transported on buses during additional testing in January 2023.
Earlier, the UK’s first self-driving bus, the Enviro200 MMC, was trialled with Stagecoach Manchester in October 2019.
This Thursday morning (11) Scotland’s Transport Minister Kevin Stewart attended the maiden voyage of the new line. He said it was exciting to see CavForth’s pioneering and ambitious project taking to the streets after the hard work of the partner organizations involved.
Alexandre Peleki is a journalist specializing in transport
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