Having actually succeeded in making the world’s very first self-driving truck to public roadways, high-end carmaker Mercedes-Benz and its parent company Daimler can now claim another self-driving world initially, this time with buses.
The Mercedes-Benz Future Bus having CityPilot has driven autonomously for the very first time on a 20km route in Amsterdam, stopping at bus stops with centimeter precision, autonomously obeying traffic signal, hitting speeds of up to 70km/h, avoiding pedestrians, following bends and working out tunnels.
Although a driver was on board throughout the journey, the bus was capable of taking the stress due to the automaker’s CityPilot technology, which communicates with sensing units and markings integrated into a specifically ready bus lane, which, Daimler asserts to be the fastest, easiest and most cost efficient method of adjusting existing highway stretches for usage by semi-autonomous vehicles.
