AFP

An autonomous, or self-driving, bus service will start operating next week in Edinburgh, the first of its kind in the UK, although the vehicles will still have staff capable of taking control in an emergency.

“Bus-mounted autonomous technology has already been tested in other vehicles, but this is the first time it has been used on a bus journey,” Peter Stevens, head of company Stagecoach, told AFP during a demonstration near Edinburgh on Thursday. .

The new 22-kilometre route, west of the Scottish capital, is expected to carry around 10,000 passengers a week.

The five buses, which will be able to travel at speeds of up to 50 km/h, will still have drivers to check that the technology is functioning properly. British law does not yet permit the circulation of fully autonomous vehicles on public roads.

Another agent will review the ticket and answer user questions.

The on-board artificial intelligence system will detect other vehicles on the road and cameras and radar will scan the road to avoid pedestrians.

According to Stevens, the service will be safer and more efficient, with fuel savings of up to 20%.

“The system can respond faster than human reaction time,” he explained.

And the longer buses are in operation, the more data they will collect to further “increase autonomous travel times,” he added.

The service is “something new and exciting to see, part of our technological revolution,” bus driver Callum Jones told AFP.

In 2021, a driverless electric bus was put into service in the city of Malaga, Spain, a project considered a pioneer in Europe.

Tests were also carried out in South Korea in the same year and in Singapore in early 2023.