Mercedes Wants to Upgrade Your Commute with Its New Self-Driving Bus
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Mercedes is hoping to make public transportation glamorous with its slick new self-driving bus.
Dubbed the “Future Bus,” the spearhead of Mercedes-Benz’s CityPilot program took a milestone 12-mile trip between Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and the nearby town of Haarlem, Netherlands.
According to TechCrunch, the bus had to navigate among crowds of pedestrians, stop at traffic lights, and pass through tunnels to make the trip. All of which, it seems, it did successfully.
CityPilot can trace its origins back to a similar program Mercedes conducted a few years back called Highway Pilot — which focused on freight trucks.
But while the successful trip was a step toward a utilitarian public transit future, Mercedes is just as concerned with making Future Bus’s interior comfortable and luxurious, TechCrunch reported.
The buses feature an open layout with overhead lights that resemble a leafy canopy, Mercedes said — owing to the city square and park inspiration that the company is trying to implement.
The bus will feature three separate zones that will accommodate passengers based on the length of their trip. The bus will also feature displays for entertainment and media viewing, and other amenities, TechCrunch reported.
To navigate busy city streets, the bus will feature an artificial intelligence that can tell whether a traffic light is green or red. The system will also feature 10 cameras that will constantly scan the bus’s surroundings.
All of this will be augmented by radar, GPS, and other systems to ensure the bus ride is a smooth one, according to Gizmag.
And although a driver will pilot the bus, they won’t need to steer, brake or accelerate the bus — the driver will only be there to meet traffic regulations, and to take manual control of the Future Bus in case of an emergency.
By relying on artificial intelligence and high-tech sensors, Mercedes said that its buses will make public transit safer and more efficient by eliminating human error.
While self-driving buses are already seeing use in private settings across the world, CityPilot’s test drive is hopefully a successful step toward the future of public transportation.
