The latest institution investing in autonomous road travel is Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. According to Fortune, the new-and-improved version of their driverless bus is set to hit campus in early 2017.
For the next-gen minibus, the French firm Navya took the design of its 2013 model and added a few upgrades. Called the Arma, the bus is capable of shuttling up to 15 passengers between the NTU campus and the CleanTech eco-business park, close to a mile away. The interior is air-conditioned and features touchscreen displays, while the exterior is equipped with sensors for detecting obstacles on the road. GPS technology and on-board cameras allow humans to remotely track each journey while the bus travels autonomously. Depending on how far it travels, the electric vehicle can run on a single charge for half a day.
Driverless buses are slowly rolling out around the world. The technology has been tested in Zhengzho, China and around Washington, D.C., and last May a fully realized version of the concept launched on public roads in the Netherlands.
In October, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority announced it was, in conjunction with NTU, working to outfit two regular-sized electric hybrid buses with self-driving technology. Those vehicles will also be tested along the NTU-CleanTech route.
[h/t Fortune]
December 20, 2016 – 4:30pm