Volvo Buses has successfully demonstrated a 12m-long (39.3ft) electric autonomous bus at operator Keolis’ depot just outside of Gothenburg, Sweden.
During the live demonstration the bus successfully drove itself between a parking bay and several workstations including cleaning, servicing and electric charging, before parking itself in the correct bay – all while carrying passengers.
“This marks a very important step in our autonomous journey as we now have successfully shown the commercial benefits an autonomous solution can deliver in a bus depot,” said Håkan Agnevall, president of Volvo Buses. “Autonomous buses in depots bring new benefits such as more efficient traffic flows, higher productivity, less damages and improved safety.”
ABB also participated in the demonstration, providing its high-power electric bus chargers with automated rooftop connection.
“The industry-common charging interface OppChargeTM is ideally suited for autonomous charging, eliminating the need to connect power cables to the bus in the depot,” said Agnevall.
The demonstration was one of the first to take place in a real bus depot, which is an area Volvo Buses believes offers the greatest potential for automation.
“We are still many years away from seeing fully-autonomous buses on public roads, but since bus depots are confined areas with predictable and repetitive traffic flows, we see autonomous buses being used there much sooner,” said Agnevall.
