Driverless ‘bus of the future’ is tested in Barcelona

Commuters in downtown Barcelona have been capable of trip the bus free of charge this week. There’s only one catch: this mini-bus has nobody on the wheel.

The bus pulls away from the cease with its passengers by itself, brakes earlier than altering lanes and eases down certainly one of Barcelona’s most trendy boulevards.

Renault is testing a brand new driverless mini-bus in Barcelona this week. The autonomous car is operating on a 2.2-km (1.3-mile) round route with 4 stops within the heart of the Spanish metropolis. Adventurous commuters can leap on freed from cost.

The French carmaker has teamed up with WeRide, an organization specializing in autonomous autos, to make the prototype. It unveiled the driverless bus on the French Open venue final yr, however now it’s testing it on the open street in Barcelona. It additionally has testing initiatives stepping into Valence, France, and on the Zurich airport.

Pau Cugat was one of many curious to step aboard for a brief trip alongside Passeig de Gracia boulevard.

“We simply handed by a daily, combustion-engine metropolis bus, and I assumed, ‘Look, there’s a bus of the previous, and proper behind it you’ve the bus of the longer term,'” the 18-year-old scholar stated.

Driverless taxis and buses are being tried out by firms in different cities, from San Francisco to Tokyo.

However Renault’s initiative comes as Europe usually lags behind the USA and China in driverless car expertise, the place firms are fiercely competing to get forward.

“The US is doing lots of experimentation with autonomous autos, the identical factor in China,” Patrick Vergelas, head of Renault’s autonomous mobility initiatives, advised The Related Press. “Till now we do not have quite a bit in actual fact in Europe. And for this reason we need to present that this works and put together Europe to this route in public transportation.”

The electrical bus can run for 120 kilometers and not using a recharge and attain 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph). It’s outfitted with 10 cameras and eight lidars (sensor arrays) to assist it navigate the streets crammed with automobiles, motorbikes and pedestrians. The corporate says the bus is ready to drive safely on a given course by a busy downtown like that of bustling Barcelona.

Carlos Santos, of Renault’s autonomous driving group, stated that he has seen all sorts of reactions from riders.

“We have seen lots of behaviors of individuals. A few of them had been smiling, (whereas) different folks simply begin crying, taking images and even attempt to open the doorways,” Santos stated earlier than he insisted that the bus trip was a secure one.

Barcelona’s metropolis officers stated that they’ve had no stories of accidents attributable to the experimental bus.

© 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.