According to a report monitored online
the world is about to witness a revolution in the history of public
transportation. The self-driving bus program sponsored by Mercedes-Benz has recorded
huge success recently during a test it conducted on one of its vehicles.
CityPilot has taken a key early step
towards fully autonomous public transportation: The Mercedes-Benz self-driving
bus program saw one of its Future
Bus vehicles drive 20 km (or
around 12.4 miles) in the Netherlands, on a route that connected
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport with the nearby town of Haarlem. To make the trip,
the bus had to stop at traffic lights, pass through tunnels, and navigate among
pedestrians.
This is a big win for the program, which
owes its origins to the transport truck-focused Highway Pilot program debuted
by Mercedes two years ago. That autonomous vehicle program didn’t face the
added challenges of navigating an urban environment, however, which makes the
Future Bus successful test run a significant achievement.
Future Bus isn’t just
a brainy piece of utilitarian tech, however. Mercedes has focused on making
sure that it’s well-suited to the city of the future, and accordingly put a lot
of time into designing the vehicle’s interior. According to the company’s
official press site, the busses have three separate zones designed based on how
long of a trip a passenger is sign to be on board for, and there are displays
for showing entertainment and other media, as well as a ceiling designed to
resemble a forested canopy.
One of the key ingredients of the
CityPilot program is integration with city infrastructure along its route of
travel: The Future Bus I fully networked, meaning it can communicate with
traffic lights along the route for cues on changing lights. An onboard
close-range camera array also manages “fingerprint”-level recognition of
asphalt detail, comparing it against previous trips to watch out for variances
and keep things on track.
The autonomous functions of the vehicle
manage speeds of up to 70km/h (around 43mph) and also takes care of navigating
to raised bus stops along the route, slowing down and stopping to pick
passengers up, pulling to within 2 inches from the curb.
Short-range autonomous buses are already
getting deployed, mostly in controlled privately-owned settings around the
world, but what this Mercedes pilot show is a successful real-world test of
what could be a core component of future public transportation systems.
This is a welcome
development in the world of public transportation.
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