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Belfast Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Could this self-driving bus soon be taking you to work or the airport?
A new self-driving shuttle bus was launched yesterday, ahead of going into service in Belfast Harbour in the coming months. The Harlander is planned to operate 12 hours a day, carrying up to nine passengers at a time on a route around Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Belfast Harbour hopes to expand these routes in coming years, connecting to the airport and potentially connecting other areas of Northern Ireland to more mainstream public transport. The driverless shuttle is currently completing safety testing, but can already be seen doing practice runs around roads in the area. Belfast Harbour plans the Harlander to run a 15-20 route, on a timetable aligned to the arrival of trains at Titanic Halt station. The timetable currently has approximate running hours from 6:30am to 6:30/7:00pm. The shuttle will initially run with safety attendants sitting at the driver's seat, however Belfast Harbour aims to eventually run it with no direct human input at all. Mike Dawson, 53, the people and digital transformation director at Belfast Harbour, says 'the purpose of the bus is to create last mile connectivity between the Titanic halt and initially, the Catalyst building. 'Then we have a loop of about four stops on the estate that it will stop on initially, to get a model and a blueprint that's viable for other services.' Mr Dawson says there are several goals for the current testing phase: 'What we'd like to do is have this run, learn from it, particularly the passenger experience and customer experience. 'What does that look like? What does that feel like? What needs to be tweaked, improved? How do you make sure there are no barriers to entry for people to be able to get on and access it?' Self-driving vehicles can be an unnerving technology for some, but Mr Dawson wants the shuttle to become 'reassuringly boring, that you're just getting transported from point A to point B.' He says the advantage is 'cost, more than anything else.' 'Translink run a great service, the Glider, up and down. But when we looked at it, we wanted more people to potentially use the train. 'You've got that 1.3 miles, how do you get people to do that? If the weather's atrocious, you're putting people off. How can we incentivise people to have a seamless experience: you get on the train, you get on the Harlander, [it] takes you to Catalyst, you're at your place of work.' The shuttle has been designed in partnership with several other companies including eVersum, Oxa, Angoka, BT and Horiba Mira. eVersum is an Austrian company which develops electric buses, and they created a right-hand drive model specifically for the Harlander. The self-driving technology comes from Oxa, who Mr Dawson describes as 'world-class in this space'. Safety testing has been carried out by Coventry-based firm Horiba Mira who have 'tested to death' the vehicles. 'They have a model of the Harbour estate on their land, they've run this model for months and months and months. 'We're going to do the same here, we've been doing it for the last few weeks, we're going to do it for another three to four. We're very confident it does what it needs to do. But, fundamentally, you still have a driver's seat there, you still have a steering wheel, you still have the ability to intervene should it be necessary.' While there will be safety attendants sitting in the driver's seat at first, Mr Dawson says 'the truth is, it will largely run in autonomous mode.' There are plans to get the Hardlander to a 'level four' self-driving vehicle, where 'there is no safety attendant, there is no driver.' Mr Dawson said he 'would like to see' an expansion of self-driving transport across Belfast and Northern Ireland. 'We would like to see more of these, where you can create connectivity on the estate itself. 'We see this as a much bigger play regionally, not just for Northern Ireland, but also for GB, where you can get connectivity to those main routes. Imagine you had estates in the city where you had these types of routes feeding the Glider route. 'It doesn't replace bus drivers, it augments what we have in place today.' Joe O'Neill, chief executive of Belfast Harbour, says the Harlander is a vital cog in its five-year strategy' and wants better connectivity 'with some of our other services, like Cruise, bringing passengers into the city. 'Connectivity to the airport is an important one as well, how we can work with the Belfast City Airport,' he added.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Where Are the Purpose-Built Robotaxi Shuttles We Were Promised?
Driverless multi-passenger shuttles are less prominent than car and crossover-based robotaxis so far, with testing under way by a handful of developers. Waymo, Zoox, Oxa, MOIA, and others have been testing larger, multi-passenger SAE Level 4 vehicles in the US, though a full-scale fleet in a large US city has yet to see service. The main focus of robotaxi operations has leaned on using converted, mass-market EVs that can carry two or three passengers, rather than large custom-made shuttles with more seating capacity. Despite once promising sleek and airy purpose-built shuttles, so far the robotaxi industry has largely delivered crossovers and minivans with lots of sensors glued on. So the year 2025, despite sounding futuristic when you say it out loud, still relies on production models with a few sensors on the roof, provided you live in a city that has robotaxis at all. And for the past couple of years, this has meant just a handful of locales on the West Coast and in the Southwest. So where are those futuristic shuttles we were promised? The easiest explanation for what's happened over the past two years when it comes to proprietary, purpose-built autonomous shuttles with subway-style doors, is that their commercial debuts have been slowed by a variety of development and business reasons, even though some are certainly here and are undergoing testing in more limited, non-citywide geofenced areas. And the reasons certainly vary by company. Following the demise of General Motors' Cruise, Waymo has been at the forefront of robotaxi operations in the US, having launched services in multiple cities with a number of debuts planned for 2025 and 2026. But its custom-made shuttle, intended to be built by Geely-owned Zeekr, has seen a measured round of testing for now in the US, initially having faced the threat of 100% tariffs as it was slated to be built in China. Waymo's Zeekr RT is still believed to be on the way into the robotaxi company's fleets, with the first major batch now expected to land at the end of the year. A far more noticeable road presence—at least if you've been to Las Vegas over the past few months—has been Zoox's autonomous shuttle. The purpose-built model, tall enough to stand in, has seen rounds of testing in a limited area in Las Vegas, though Zoox itself is not exactly racing to fill multiple cities in the Southwest with fleets of such shuttles. At least not now. The Zoox shuttle, we should note, gets far more futurism points for featuring no driver controls while offering conference-style seating, so it's more of a minibus than the minivan-style Zeekr RT. Of course, one of the main impediments to a wider rollout of Zoox-style shuttles has been, and will continue to be, the investment needed to build hundreds of custom-made EVs, which easily dip into six-figure territory for each unit built. This is likely to remain a barrier for wide-scale shuttle services of this type for some time—and also explains why there have been relatively few such efforts. But Zoox is not alone when it comes to autonomous shuttles without driver controls. Over the past few months, UK-based Oxa has been testing its own proprietary shuttle dubbed Presto in collaboration with Beep Inc. in the Bay Area, specifically in the Rossmoor 55+ active senior community in Walnut Creek, just a few minutes east of Oakland. Presto is currently one of the largest deployed autonomous shuttles, offering seating for seven, though at the moment it still employs a human safety monitor on board, even if it lacks traditional driver controls. "The electric, autonomous shuttles will operate on a predetermined route in the Rossmoor community, running Oxa's self-driving software product, Oxa Driver, with Beep managing the planning, deployment, and operation of the autonomous mobility network," the company said. Identical shuttle services have been launched by Oxa in two locations in Jacksonville and Nona, Florida, also in collaboration with Beep. Oxa's operational debuts still exist in a somewhat different category than envisioned by Waymo and Zoox, following a pre-set route along a mix of public and private roads. By contrast, the Waymo and Zoox models are designed to be summoned by users' phone apps to specific locations and to cover a much wider and far busier geographic area. But Oxa's efforts still represent one of just a handful of operational uses of SAE Level 4 shuttles in what is a non-airport setting. Airports have traditionally been seen as one of the easiest launching grounds for autonomous shuttles, but they have largely been confined to serving parking lots in the few deployments we've seen thus far. And for understandable reasons, it's difficult to put them into quite the same category as ride-hailing shuttles that can freely roam a city and pick up passengers when requested by app. Another notable SAE Level 4 shuttle with potential is Volkswagen's MOIA startup. Aimed at ride-pooling operations in a handful of cities in Germany, the autonomous shuttle is based on the VW ID. Buzz and has seen testing stateside for quite some time now. "Austin, Munich, and Hamburg—the ID. Buzz AD is being tested and validated in three major cities worldwide,' Christian Senger, CEO of Volkswagen ADMT, said in 2024. "Passenger safety and the safety of all road users are our top priorities. This also includes regular communication with local police and fire departments." Volkswagen's MOIA venture, which has been delivering ride-pooling services for a few years now with a driver behind the wheel, is scheduled to see autonomous versions of the ID. Buzz in Hamburg later this year. But the longer-term plan is to switch to a driverless shuttle service. This winter VW has been pushing the autonomous ID. Buzz test vehicles out of their sunny comfort zones, instead taking them to Norway for testing in the ice and snow—a unique feat for current shuttles in testing or limited operational phases. "Our testing is already under way. In addition to evaluating the driving capabilities in dense traffic, we're also testing all functionalities needed to ensure safe and comfortable passenger transport," Sascha Meyer, CEO of MOIA said a few months ago. But VW isn't rushing to promise a US debut of its ride-pooling services anytime soon, focusing on Germany for now. Part of the reason, we suspect, is that VW does not yet have a ride-hailing app partner stateside who has signed on for such a move, and isn't eager to mirror Waymo's scale even in warm-weather states. Also, VW has already spent years cultivating a ride-pooling user base in Hamburg prior to the planned launch of autonomous shuttles, which would be a tough feat to repeat from scratch in the US. For now, autonomous shuttles are certainly on the way for a number of robotaxi operators or are already in service in some niche locations, but a wider-scale deployment remains some time away. Will multi-passenger, driverless shuttles become common in the US by 2030, or will this approach to autonomous vehicles remain a small niche? Please comment below.
BBC News
31-03-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Month-long trial of Sunderland driverless bus completed
A multimillion-pound trial of a driverless bus to end "human error" has concluded after shuttling passengers in a city centre for a autonomous bus - staffed by a safety driver in case intervention was needed - had been ferrying members of the public between Park Lane and the Royal Hospital in Sunderland. Passengers who had not yet been onboard told the BBC the prospect of completely driverless vehicles "frightened" them in case of bosses behind the four-week project said feelings of nervousness ended once commuters had tried it. The trial was a partnership between Sunderland Smart Cities and automated software firm Oxa. It involved converting a Ford Transit van into a minibus with cameras, sensors, and software so it could complete pre-programmed to UK regulations, a trained driver must sit behind the wheel to take control where necessary but if new laws are passed, driverless vehicles would not need to be staffed. "They [the drivers] don't have the hands on the wheel but if they feel something is unsafe, they can take over," explains Richard Jinks, Oxa's chief operating officer."A high percentage of accidents caused by human error and a lot of the way these vehicles work will remove that human error."He also said that while waiting for new laws to be passed, the same technology could be used in areas which are not bound by current regulations including at airports to move baggage and in ports to transport industrial parts. Th BBC spoke to commuters on buses with conventional drivers at Sunderland's Park Lane Interchange. One passenger said they "wouldn't feel safe" and "didn't trust them", while another said they "would be frightened if anything happened" without a driver onboard. Liz St Louis, director of Smart Cities for Sunderland City Council, said "trepidation" among passengers was normal and she hoped that would change once they had travelled onboard."I think it's really important, clearly autonomous mobility is a huge future," she said. "It's really advanced in many parts of the world, the UK is really catching up and we're proud in Sunderland testing autonomy on the public roads."Unions have previously warned that, although a long way off, automation must come with "guarantees" to safeguard jobs. Addressing concerns over the impact on jobs, Ms St Louis said there was likely to always be roles for "experienced drivers" which included remote Jinks added: "We need to win hearts and minds in our industry, and we know that and that's what we're doing here."About £4.9m has been invested in the project, which is researching how self-driving buses work in cities, with £2.7m of it being funded by the government. Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
