In autumn, a driverless autonomous bus will run regularly for two months in Vilnius’ Užupis district.
Solveiga Stankevičienė, a representative of the Vilnius municipal company Susisiekimo Paslaugos, says that the company’s commitment to test a regular route with a self-driving bus was made as part of the European public transport integration project.
“The shortage of drivers makes us consider some other public transport services in the city,” she said.
According to Stankevičienė, the bus, which can seat 6–8 passengers and carry up to 12 passengers, is expected to run for two months in the autumn on the streets of Užupis, taking passengers free of charge to bus stops in the busier surrounding streets.
The test of the autonomous bus should start in the second half of September.
The municipality has earmarked 80,000 euros for the lease of the vehicle and the installation of the temporary bus stops in Užupis.
According to Stankevičienė, the pilot project will show whether such buses could be a permanent addition to the capital’s public transport system in the future.
“With this project, we aim to test both the infrastructure of Vilnius city and the existing public transport system to see if it would be worthwhile for us to invest money in this type of vehicle,” she explained.
According to her, the autonomous bus will be leased from foreign companies, as there are no companies in Lithuania that can lease it.
Currently, autonomous buses are running regularly in Finland’s capital Helsinki, as well as on the grounds of the Tampere University, Norway’s Stavanger, and have previously been tested in German cities.
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