Norway’s transport ministry has approved a route for the country’s first self-driving bus. It’s due to start carrying commuters between Stavanger and the Forus office complex in Sandnes in June.
Norwegian law still doesn’t allow vehicles without human drivers to operate on local roads, so the bus will have an employee from local transit service Kolumbus in Rogaland on board. He or she will thus be able to hit the brakes in the event of any dangerous situation.
“I think it will be natural in the future to sit in vehicles you’re not driving yourself,” Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen told local newspaper Dagsavisen RA. He likened the experience to “going into an elevator, pushing a button and being assured that it will stop at the chosen floor.”
newsinenglish.no staff
