Single-decker will run autonomously only in depots until laws allow passengers
Even on the road with a driver, the bus could be safer for other road users, with the sensor system able to give more warning of cyclists or pedestrians.
Photograph: Ant Clausen Photography/Stagecoach
A full-sized driverless bus will be given a trial for the first time in the UK by one of Britain’s biggest transport operators later this year.
Stagecoach said the single-decker bus will run autonomously only in its depots until laws change to allow it to carry passengers.
Work is being carried out to adapt the bus with the same technology used on driverless pods recently used in a trial in Greenwich, south-east London.
The operator said the bus would be able to park in depots and drive itself to refuelling and wash points. No driver will be required when it is off public roads. Stagecoach said it believed wider use of self-driving buses could be safer, more efficient and save space within its depots.
Even on the road with a driver, the bus could be safer for other road users, with the sensor system able to give more warning of cyclists or pedestrians in blind spots or unexpected proximity.
Stagecoach’s UK bus engineering director, Sam Greer, said the bus, which is being designed in partnership with the manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited and the technology company Fusion Processing, was an exciting project that “could, in time, help improve safety and efficiency within our depots, and over the longer term, help transform bus travel in the future”.
The move by a traditional bus operator using a full-size vehicle could mark a fresh step towards wider adoption of autonomous vehicles in the UK, where so far only pods and smaller shuttle vehicles have carried passengers in public spaces. Passenger services using small driverless vehicles have been given trials in France, while China has already tested larger driverless buses on major city roads in Shenzhen.
The trials in Greenwich suggested that passengers might embrace larger autonomous vehicles more readily than pods when it comes to public transport. While driverless trains have long run in the area, researchers found that those testing the four- to-six-seater shuttles had concerns about using them with strangers, with 85% of users saying they were happy with autonomous technology but only 46% happy to ride share. Most said they were also unwilling to pay a significant premium over a normal bus fare to use driverless pods.