Driverless bus technology to be used in Fife trials goes on show

TRANSPORT: Europe’s first fullsized self-driving bus, to be used between Ferrytoll and Edinburgh, is unveiled

Scotland has been given a first glimpse of the driverless technology to be trialled on buses in Fife next year.

Europe’s first full-sized self-driving bus was unveiled at a summit in Glasgow, before the “globally significant” yearlong pilot using vehicles travelling across the Forth Road Bridge.

The demonstration at the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Summit (CAV Scotland) involved an autonomous bus already trialled by Stagecoach in Manchester.

The buses for the 14-mile journey between Ferrytoll park and ride in Inverkeithing and the Edinburgh Park train and tram interchange are still in development.

Operated by Stagecoach East Scotland, the five single-deckers will each carry up to 42 people and are expected to transport around 10,000 passengers a week over the road bridge.

Although they will be equipped with autonomous technology, including radar and cameras, a driver will be on

“

Our industry, customers and employees can benefit hugely. MARTIN GRIFFITHS

board during any journey, in line with UK regulations.

The trial was announced a year ago. Transport Secretary Michael Matheson was at the Glasgow summit, where he said: “Our trunk road network can provide a wide range of environments as a diverse testing ground and the groundbreaking and globally significant Project Cavforth will really help Scotland establish its credentials on the world stage.”

Stagecoach Group chief executive Martin Griffiths said: “Our industry, customers and employees can benefit hugely from autonomous technology as it can make services safer, more efficient and help to deliver better journeys.”

The project also involves bus maker Alexander Dennis, technology firm Fusion Processing, Bristol Robotics Laboratory and Napier University, as well as Transport Scotland.

Fusion Processing CEO Jim Hutchinson said Cavforth was the most advanced autonomous bus project anywhere.

Technological advances have transformed how we live our lives and, in retrospect, it would be hard for even the most vehement of Luddite to disagree that change has been anything but positive.

From digital personal assistants to laptops and smartphones with more computing power than Nasa had at its disposal when it went to the moon, the pace of change has been phenomenal.

And where technology is concerned the foot is firmly jammed on the accelerator, not the brake.

With that in mind, a new autonomous bus service will be launched next year linking Fife and Edinburgh.

The thought of a vehicle of the size of a service bus taking to public roads of its own volition and wending its way over the Forth Road Bridge will undoubtedly make some people queasy.

There will be those who will never trust in it, no matter what evidence is put in front of them.

But driverless vehicles are science fact, not fiction, and in time they will become the norm rather than the exception.

That Fife is to be a testbed for such leading technologies should be seen as a positive rather than a negative. We should be proud that the revolution is starting here. Scotland has a long and proud history of technical innovation from the telephone to the television.

One day the autonomous bus may be viewed as another chapter in that remarkable story.

Picture: James Chapelard Photography. Europe’s first full size self-driving bus took passengers around the SEC car park in Glasgow as part of CAV Scotland.