Brussels intercommunal transport company (STIB) is due to test Autonomous public transport in the capital in the summer of 2019, Le Soir reported on Thursday.
“We have been working on this project since last February,” confirmed Philippe Vandewauwer, studies and strategy projects manager within the regional company’s strategy and innovation department. “We have a partnership with the RATP (Parisian equivalent of the STIB, Ed), which has already performed four tests of increasing difficulty.”
In actual fact, the STIB has issued a call for tender for the rental of two autonomous 6 to 10 passenger shuttles. Equipped with lidars (laser radars) and a very precise geo-tracking system, they should then move without a driver, but an agent will be present on board to ensure safety and answer the users’ questions. The location of this first test has not yet been chosen.
This test (and the following) should enable the STIB to assess, in particular, the behavior of this type of vehicle, and to better define its possible use as a complementary solution to the current offer.
On Tuesday, the commune of Han-sur-Lesse inaugurated the first autonomous shuttle circulating on a public road.
