The future of unmanned vehicles: buses, not cars

Pilot buses in Oristano (Italy)

Now several automobile (and not only) companies have focused their efforts on developing unmanned vehicles and solving the most difficult tasks of laying the optimal route, recognizing images, maneuvering, etc. The tasks are so complicated that there are big doubts that the commercial operation of such machines will begin in the near future, too many nuances.

But many people forget that there is a much simpler and more logical use of automated piloting systems. This is public transportation. Some problems are solved there by definition, because public transport is moving along a clear route, along the same lane. On public roads, you can make a dedicated lane for buses and trolley buses, so that maneuvering is also simplified to the limit.
')
It is not surprising that several cities have already launched bus routes without a biological species driver.

For example, in the small town of Oristano in the west of Sardinia (Italy), last year, unmanned mini-buses were tested on a 1.3-km route. The technology is modeled on the one that is implemented in Rotterdam by 2getthere.

The only difference is that in Rotterdam a separate lane for unmanned buses is allocated, which divides the general urban environment into zones and looks unnatural. In Oristano, they want to let buses go along the same lane along which cyclists and ordinary cars drive. There are no problems here, because buses recognize obstacles perfectly and are completely safe for others.

Obstacle detection by buses 2getthere


Activists of the Italian project say that the main problems are not of a technical, but of a legal nature. For example, trade unions of drivers have strong resistance.

However, the first tests showed the viability of the idea. The authors are confident that the future of robotic transport lies precisely behind unmanned buses. They say that unmanned vehicles can be useful for country trips on the highway, but they are of little use when used in urban environments.

In the city, due to numerous obstacles, stops and maneuvers, an unmanned vehicle will show even worse efficiency than a machine driven by a man. Of course, if 100% of the cars immediately became unmanned, they could synchronize their movement and act as a single system, but in the near future this is not exactly foreseen. The fleet of cars does not change completely for 10 or even 20 years. Buses are quite possible to purchase centrally, and they are updated more often.

Unmanned buses in Rotterdam