摘要: |
By coincidence, announcements about the development for the CAVForth and CAVForth2 autonomous bus projects in east Scotland were made in the issue I had earmarked as a Scotland special. Not only has the first load of passengers now been transported without a driver by one of the five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AVs (see page 8), but the manufacturer is to provide an autonomous version of the new EnvirolOOEV for an extension to Dunfermline (see page 28). The thought crossed my mind that perhaps the progress was a response to the national bus driver shortage, but I doubt it. The technology is still miles away from being safe enough to use on your average city centre streets, and even if it was there, I don't believe doing away with human bus drivers entirely is something operators will be keen to do. There are too many nuances to many bus services that cannot easily be replaced by an algorithm. |