Barcelona has launched a trial of two autonomous electric buses, according to the Associated Press.
The free 1.3-mile loop is a collaboration between We Ride and Renault Group. The mini-buses can run for 74 miles before needing a recharge and reach speeds of 25 mph. They use 10 cameras and eight lidar sensor arrays to inform autonomous real-time driving.
These vehicles are operating at what's called level 4 autonomy. This means that there's no driver on board, but driving can be supervised remotely. Level 5 is considered the top of driving autonomy.
Initial reactions from riders in Barcelona have been varied.
"We've seen a lot of behaviors of people. Some of them were smiling, (while) other people just start crying, taking photographs or even try to open the doors," Renault Group's Carlos Santos said, per the AP.
The deployment is on the heels of several successful runs in France and Switzerland.
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This project hits a lot of positive notes. Electric vehicles are key to decarbonizing transportation, which can help curtail violent weather trends. Public transit already does a great job of minimizing transportation pollution, and electrifying it makes it even better for the environment.
Besides the "cool" factor of these electric buses driving themselves, it also means reduced human costs and potentially lowering chances for error. Meanwhile, zero-fare transit is highly equitable, reduces operating friction, and increases adoption.
Plenty of startups have envisioned autonomous electrified public transit, and Tesla hopes to kick off the "robotaxi" market soon. Renault Group hopes to make autonomous mini-buses available to the public in 2030, and some riders are excited about them.
"Each passing day, we are more and more into the future. We just passed by a regular, combustion-engine, city bus, and I thought, 'Look, there is a bus of the past, and right behind it you have the bus of the future,'" one rider in Barcelona said, per the AP.
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