Driverless bus tests start in Paris

Paris, a city with chronic pollution and traffic are experimenting with electric powered self-driving shuttle which will link two train stations.

Two EZ10 minibuses that have a capacity to carry 6 seated and 6 standing passengers went into a trial service yesterday. The trial will run till April and will cover between Lyon and Austerlitz stations in Paris.

RATP president, Elisabeth Borne said ‘The autonomous vehicle presents an opportunity for new services in less densely populated areas.’

The vehicles will be GPS guided and will run seven days a week, free of charge to customers.

The minibuses will run in a single traffic lane at 15 miles per hour, back and forth. The bus will not require an infrastructure as it will use a virtual route which can be changed at any time.

The EZ10 minibus has already been tested in other countries such as the United States, Japan and Finland. They have also set plans for it to be tested in two main ‘green’ spaces in southern Paris

 RAPT also have hopes to introduce regular routes for such high-tech vehicles within the next 2 years.