When a van cut off one of Helsinki’s driverless shuttles with rider Helena Bensky aboard, she noted that while the bus politely stopped, it lacked the ability to tell the offending driver off.
Sohjoa is a French autonomous bus that can accommodate up to 12 passengers. The Finnish city is testing the technology on a quarter-mile route for feasibility in “first-mile/last-mile” journeys, the kind that fill voids in mass transit by taking riders from transit stops to points closer to home, schools, etc.
Unlike self-driving vehicles being tested in Singapore, Pittsburgh and other cities, Sohjoa shuttles require operators to imprint routes use steering and acceleration controls, and then developers fine-tune operations with controlling software. While the shuttles have laser sensors and GPS to keep them on their courses, they cannot deviate from unplanned routes.
The shuttles in the test move at about 7 miles per hour, and lateral movement is restricted. The shuttles have to wait if an object is in their way, or a remote operator can intervene and steer the shuttle manually around the object or vehicle.
Finland’s laws allow a vehicle’s driver to observe operations through a computer. If successful, the technology could run with a few operators, making it financially feasible to run routes that serve only a few riders.
