Last Updated on May 4, 2017 by CCAR Staff
There’s no driver in this shuttle bus to help you with your bags or tell you what terminal to get off for your flight.
But expect driverless buses like it to shuttle travelers between parking lots and airport terminals in Southern California within “the next five years for sure,” said an enthusiastic Hasan Ikhrata, the region’s top transportation official.
On Thursday, May 4, Ikhrata, executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments, and dozens of transportation and local government officials got a chance to test ride the French manufactured EZ10, a driverless, all electric, box-shaped shuttle bus that can seat six travelers while another six are standing.
Riders just get in and press a green button. And the bus drives off, staying within an inch of its pre-programmed route — in this case around a circular driveway at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa in Palm Desert, where the association of governments was hosting a transportation conference.
“When I rode this, in a few seconds, it didn’t seem I was in a driverless vehicle,” Ikhrata said. “It is safe. It is the future. And we need to embrace it.”
Driverless vehicles could potentially prevent thousands of traffic fatalities each year by taking human error out of the equation, he said. They also may double the capacity of our roads, streets and freeways, because of new efficiencies through programming, he said.
Expect to see the first such driverless shuttles at airports and other transportation hubs. Ikhrata also envisions senior citizens using smartphones to summon such shuttles to get to grocery stores, medical offices, and other common destinations.
Built in Toulouse, France, EZ10 cruises at about 12 miles per hour and costs about $300,000, said Neal Hemenover, a spokesman for Transdev North America, a Chicago-area company that operates the vehicles. About 40 are in service worldwide, including two at the Bishop Ranch, a business park in San Ramon.
For now, such vehicles are pretty much limited to private roads, though California officials last month proposed new regulations that would allow commercial use of driverless vehicles on public roadways.
The EZ10 has two computers, a sensor on the roof and smaller sensors above each of the four wheels. Its front looks exactly the same as its back, and it goes in either direction, which means there’s really no such thing as backing up.
Its top speed is about 25 miles per hour.
“The faster it goes, the farther out the sensors go to make sure there are no obstructions,” Hemenover said.
