Driverless Bus in Ibaraki
I read an interesting story on the Yomiuri Shimbun website about a free, self-driving bus which began running in Sakai, Ibaraki Prefecture last Thursday. According to the town, this is the first regular operation of a self-driving bus in Japan. The bus is French-made and can hold 11 people. It is programmed to run at a speed of 18 kilometers per hour on a 5 kilometer round trip through the center of town. It detects and avoids obstacles with sensors. The bus has a driver on board to check the surroundings before departing from bus stops or when moving through traffic jams. For now the bus is making four round trips a day. I wonder if it will catch on and be available in other Japanese towns.
6 comments:
That sounds like something that will be very popular in Japan to me.
Pamela: I am not ready for driverless vehicles, i kind of like driving myself around.
Have a great day.
Catherine
If I remember correctly, there were plans to have driverless shuttle busses in some areas during the Olympic Games. If the games are really held next year and things have not changed we might seem these busses on some streets in Tokyo.
Majority of the new trains designed for Asia are driverless. Thank goodness the driverless buses travel slower than usual.
I haven't decided how I feel about driverless cars and buses! But it looks pretty nifty.
I like the idea of self driving cars and busses, but it seems a little pointless if it has to have a driver on board after all!
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