World’s first autonomous bus service to start operating in Scotland

Edinburgh bus passengers will be boarding the world’s first fully sized, self-driving bus from Spring of this year, with plans just announced to add an electric bus on a longer, more complex route as part of the project’s second phase.

CAVForth is an autonomous bus service starting this Spring, initially on a 14-mile route from Edinburgh Park transport hub, across the Forth bridge, to Ferrytoll Park & Ride in Fife. The fleet of five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV, full sized diesel buses, will negotiate mixed traffic, and travel at speeds of up to 50mph. The 43-seater buses will carry up to 10,000 fare-paying passengers per week.

CAVForth (CAV stands for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles) is a partnership between automated technology provider and project lead Fusion Processing Ltd, bus operator Stagecoach, bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis, government agency Transport Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University, and Bristol Robotics Lab.

Last week, the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) announced that the Scottish autonomous service was one of seven successful projects to win additional UK government funding for self-driving transport technology.

Under the £10.4 million expanded project, CAVForth2, the Edinburgh to Fife automated bus route will have an additional five-mile section added, to Dunfermline city centre. The additional route features more complexity, with busy category A and B roads and city centre traffic.

Larbert-based Alexander Dennis will also be providing an electric Enviro100AEV bus for CAVForth2, which will operate alongside the five existing autonomous diesel Enviro200AV buses from the original CAVForth project.

https://edinburghguide.com