This is our transport future!

A press release from the UK:

The UK’s first full-sized autonomous bus will take to the roads of Scotland for the first time this week as live testing begins for project CAVForth.

Stagecoach, in partnership with Fusion Processing, Alexander Dennis and Transport Scotland, will be carrying out on-road testing* of the autonomous bus over the next two weeks in preparation for the launch of the CAVForth pilot service in late summer. The Project CAVForth pilot, which is jointly funded by the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) will see five single-deck autonomous buses operating at SAE Level 4 over the Forth Road Bridge between Ferrytoll Park and Ride in Fife and the Edinburgh Park Train and Tram interchange. The buses are fitted with Fusion Processing’s ground-breaking sensor and control technology, CAVstar, that enables them to run on pre-selected roads without the safety driver having to intervene or take control. The buses will provide a service capable of carrying up to 36 passengers over the 14 miles across the bridge, with capacity for over 10,000 passengers a week.

I have no doubt this is the future. Autonomous electric vehicles (vans and buses) that will pick you up from your home and deliver you to your destination. Many households will be able to give up owning their own vehicles, as you can summon an autonomous vehicle by app within minutes.

Sadly the Government here is doing everything possible to stop this future. They are degrading roads and putting all the money into 19th century transport modes such as trains and trams which can only take you from one fixed point to another.