Now Paris tests driverless buses

PARIS has followed Lyon's example and started testing a driverless bus on the pedestrianised section of right bank of the Seine.

The first buses, operated by RATP, ran between Seine Berges and the Pont Neuf on Saturday, September 23, to mark Mobility Week in the Capital. A second test is planned to take place later this year between Gare de Lyon and Gare Austerlitz.

The Toulouse-made EasyMile buses could also be a regular sight on the streets of Bordeaux in early 2017, under plans to test the vehicle on the streets there. The vehicles have already been tested in the Atlantic city at the 2015 Congrès mondial ITS.

As reported, driverless buses are already in use in an up-and-coming quarter of Lyon, where transport bosses are running a year-long experiment of Navly buses in the Confluence district of the city.
The test in Paris started the day before the second car-free day in the capital. More than 650km of roads in the city have been closed to non-essential traffic on Sunday, September 25, a year after the first car-free day. Last year, about one-third of the city was closed to vehicles and it was reported that nitrogen dioxide levels dropped 40%.
The Paris Sans Voiture group have organised an event in which pedestrians, wheelchair-users and cyclists will parade through the streets before heading to the banks of the Seine for a 'zero-waste' picnic.