New driverless bus is tested

A DRIVERLESS bus is being tested by French car manufacturer Ligier with patients and visitors to the Estaing Hospital in Clermont-Ferrand being the first to try it out.

The Vipa (Véhicule Individuel Public Autonome) has its speed limited to 20kph and is guided by a simple and cheap video camera set-up that checks for any obstructions and slows down accordingly.

Ligier say the system is very cheap compared to more hi-tech versions as it does not need complicated and expensive laser guidance and monitoring systems.

It carries six people, four seated and two standing, will initially be used for six months on the journey from the car park to the entrance of the Estaing hospital and then will be extended to cover the site’s internal roadway.

If the experiment proves a success, Ligier plans to have a fleet of Vipas running at the Michelin research centre at Ladoux by 2015. Staff will use it like a tram or a taxi, depending on demand.

In 2011 La Rochelle introduced the first driverless bus to its streets. The GPS-guided bus, designed by Yamaha and the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, was used on a 900m pedestrian and cycle zone where its speed was limited to 10kph. It could carry four passengers.

Earlier this year Lyon tested out an eight-seater robot bus that linked Rue de République and Bellecour. Developed by French company Induct, it used lasers to avoid obstructions in its path.