The self-driving bus has taken its first journey carrying passengers across Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge.
The UK has celebrated the launch of its first driverless bus service, operated by Stagecoach.
The start of the pilot programme was marked by a journey on the service between Ferry Toll near Inverkeithing, Fife, and Edinburgh Park. Scotland’s transport minister Kevin Stewart was one of the first to take his seat for the short journey.
A fleet of five driverless buses is expected to operate on a trial basis until 2025. Each bus will carry two members of staff – a safety driver who can take control of the vehicle, and another ‘captain’ to sell tickets and provide customer service.
One of the new buses crosses Forth Road Bridge in Scotland, during the launch of the UK’s first autonomous bus / Andrew Milligan/PA Wireservice.
Image credit: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Stagecoach believes autonomous buses will improve safety by reducing reaction times, and improve efficiency by optimising acceleration and deceleration which is expected to provide significant energy savings and reduced wear and tear on the vehicle.
The project, named CAVForth, will be the first registered bus service in the UK to use full-sized autonomous buses. A fleet of five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV vehicles will cover a 14-mile route, in mixed traffic, at up to 50mph across the iconic Forth Road Bridge.
The buses will have the capacity for about 10,000 passenger journeys per week, the company has revealed.
Minister for Transport Kevin Stewart (right) and Stuart Doidge with one of the new buses on show at the Traffic Scotland National Control Centre/ Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Image credit: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Scotland’s transport minister was present on the bus when the driver lifted his hands from the wheel for the first time. He assured journalists on board that he felt “very safe”.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to see this autonomous bus testing here. We want Scotland to be at the very forefront of this technology,” Stewart said. “I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to travel on one of these autonomous vehicles.
“I felt very safe on the bus, there has been a huge amount of testing. There were staff on board. I hope the people of Fife and Edinburgh come to see for themselves just how safe all of this is.
“We need people to use public transport more, whether that be buses or trains. We’re doing all that we can to encourage people on to public transport. This adds to the mix and we have a way to go in terms of that change.
“We all have a part to play in carbon reduction and using buses and trains as a way to do that.”
Stuart Doidge sits in the drivers seat with no hands on the wheel on one of the new buses, as it crosses Forth Road Bridge in Scotland / Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Image credit: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Testing for the new service began in April 2022 following successful depot-based trials, track testing and virtual simulation, which Stagecoach said put the autonomous buses through their paces to fine-tune the drive systems.
Since then, the buses have completed one million testing miles so far.
“When you consider the billions of dollars spent globally on autonomous bus transport, I’m not surprised there is worldwide media interest,” said Sam Greer, director of Stagecoach.
“We’ll look to analyse the data, the reaction and feedback from passengers and the general public about acceptance of the technology and we’ll make a decision about how we use the technology in the future.
“I would say to anyone who is a bit cautious about using the vehicle not to be, there is a full safety case that has been worked through. The vehicle has been certified as safe for public use.”
The buses use Fusion Processing’s autonomous drive system, CAVStar, which takes data from a suite of sensors including cameras, lidar and radar together with artificial intelligence processing to manage the journey, in all traffic conditions. In addition, receiving information directly from traffic light systems enables the bus to plan its speed to run smoothly run from one green light to the next.
Fusion Processing says this intelligent autonomous driving reduces unnecessary braking and accelerating, contributing to less wear on brakes and tyres, with corresponding reductions in particulate emissions.
The autonomous bus market has been increasingly attracting attention over the past few years, and it is expected to grow by 1,990 units during 2021-2025, at an annual growth rate of 27 per cent.
The service will start taking paying customers across the Firth of Forth on Monday.
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