Groningen to test self-driving bus later this year

A self-driving bus will be tested in Groningen in autumn. It concerns an already existing local bus transport company, Qbuzz, which has Dutch technology built into it. The vehicle will be driving at Qbuzz's bus depot in Groningen from next month. The intention is for the bus to start running on the bus lane on the Peizerweg in Groningen later this year.

The bus will be seen in public for the first time this week at InnoTrans, a European trade fair for innovations in transport in Berlin. In November, a wider audience will be able to see the self-driving bus at the Qbuzz bus depot.

Technology made by the company robotTUNER is built into the bus, which can be placed into any existing bus. The 'open source' technology will be made available to all public transport companies, the province reported.

Groningen added that self-driving transport offers solutions in the future to continue transport where it is financially or operationally impossible otherwise.

Buses will be able to drive autonomously on easy-to-drive routes, which will help the accessibility and quality of life in the province. The province emphasized that automatic public transport is not a replacement for drivers but a supplement. Self-driving transport allows available drivers to be deployed more "efficiently."

The project is part of the national Automatic Public Transport (AOV) cooperation.