Geneva takes next step towards a driverless bus future

A driverless bus being tested on the 36-hectare hospital site, east of Geneva city centre in 2020. swissinfo.ch

Geneva has been chosen as one of three European test sites for a full-scale driverless public bus service. This is part of the Horizon Europe ULTIMO mobility initiative that builds on the successful results of a University of Geneva pilot project in the city.

From 2025, 15 autonomous electric shuttle buses will be deployed in Geneva as part of an on-demand public transport service available 24-hours a day.

ULTIMO aims to set up a “full-scale autonomous public transport network offering a door-to-door service”, the University of Geneva (UNIGE) said in a statementExternal link on Thursday.

The project represents the next step in experimental work carried out by the AVENUE consortium under the university’s leadership between 2018-2022 at eight test sites in Europe, including the Belle-Idée Hospital, east of Geneva city centre, and the commune of Meyrin.

‘‘The aim of AVENUE was to study the technical and economic feasibility of an automated on-demand transport service as well as the potential psychological obstacles to its use. ULTIMO’s goal will be to develop a real business model that addresses the concrete economic, legal and security issues of such a service,’’ explained UNIGE professor Dimitri Konstantas, who is associate coordinator and technical director of ULTIMO.

The new European consortium brings together 23 partners from eight European countries. They include eight Swiss partners: the University of Geneva, Geneva Public Transport, the State of Geneva, the start-up MobileThinking Sarl, the companies ArgYou SA and ZF-CV SA, and the associations Open Geneva and SAAM.

ULTIMO is overseen by the German rail service Deutsche Bahn and has a budget of €55 million ($54 million) over four years. Of this, €24 million comes from the European Commission and €16 million from the Swiss federal government, the rest will be provided by industrial partners.

The other test sites are Kronach (Germany) and Oslo (Norway). A total of 45 vehicles will be deployed.

Video of autonomous bus being tested at Belle-Idée hospital site in Geneva in 2020.

ULTIMO will focus on issues such as how to ensure the safety of passengers and react, for example, in the event of accidents or incivilities in the driverless, unmanned shuttles. It will also look at pricing questions, minimum and maximum distances for the bus destinations and the legal framework. In Geneva, several types of shuttles will be deployed to test the systems. The exact perimeter of the Geneva driverless network has yet to be defined.

‘‘By offering door-to-door, on-demand, 24-hour transport, the service would be of higher quality. It would also avoid empty trips during off-peak hours and thus reduce some costs. Finally, by responding to demand in real time, queuing and congestion around stations could be avoided. This is a real paradigm shift in public transport,’’ said Konstantas.