Tiny, automated bus experiment begins in Greece

Four tiny, driverless buses are on trial in the Greek city of Trikala, the first of five European cities to introduce the automated transportation.

The vehicles are part of CityMobil2, an EU-funded research project that is staging tests of automated road transport systems with self-driving buses across Europe. Each bus can carry 10 to 12 passengers along the road at speeds of up to 20 kilometers an hour, around the same speed as a milk float, but faster than a golf buggy.

“I was saying…a bus without a driver, how could it be?,” asked one elderly woman who took a trip out one of the tiny buses. “But I really enjoyed it and had no problem. It’s like a regular bus. I will use it, since it passes through my neighborhood.”

The buses are electric, silent and non-polluting.

It uses batteries to power an electric engine,” explained Vasilis Karavidas who is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the buses. “It is equipped with GPS and laser and follows a predetermined route. Th