Autonomous Bus Service Launched in Scotland

[roadierway77]

Mod note: Posts #1-#12 were originally in this thread:

Stagecoach East Scotland

As if the North west isnt enough, what about fleet changes at Staegcoach East Scotland, comprising the Fife, Strathtay, and Perth operations? Already, 3 Dennis Tridents have been transfered up to Fife from Oxford. These will be allocated to St Andrews (2) and Aberhill (1), for use on the 95...

www.railforums.co.uk

The new autonomous service AB1 has now been registered.

• PM0000004/1036 Registered​

  FIFE SCOTTISH OMNIBUSES LTD
  Route: Ferrytoll Park and Ride to Edinburgh Park
  Service number: FAB1 (AB1)
  Service type: Normal Stopping
  Effective date: 15 May 2023

 

[roadierway77]

The timetable for service AB1 has now been released. I believe it was originally planned to run up to every 20 minutes - it will now run every 30 minutes, 7 days a week. Below is a link, and I've also attached the PDF timetable available on the Stagecoach website.

AB1 - Ferrytoll Park and Ride - Edinburgh Park

Stagecoach East Scotland

bustimes.org

 

[JD2168]

One of the new Autonomous E200MMC’s was on BBC Breakfast this morning around 7:30am with a reporter. The driver in the cab drove the bus then put it in Autonomous mode for a short period ahead of the start of the AB1 service.

 

[overthewater]

One of the new Autonomous E200MMC’s was on BBC Breakfast this morning around 7:30am with a reporter. The driver in the cab drove the bus then put it in Autonomous mode for a short period ahead of the start of the AB1 service.

There was also a crew on GMB, STV news and every other news outlet. Today was the media press launch ahead of public test day on Saturday before the full routes starts on Monday.

 

[route101]

There was also a crew on GMB, STV news and every other news outlet. Today was the media press launch ahead of public test day on Saturday before the full routes starts on Monday.

Can you use the service today?

 

[Volvodart]

The public launch event is sold out.

 

[OptareLover]

Although it’s a ADL Enviro 200 MMC body, it’s referred to as ‘Enviro 200AV’ by manufacturers - User 164 on bustimes.org

The autonomous buses have launched recently - as you probably know - and they have their own vehicle type, the ADL Enviro200AV. "AV" means "autonomous vehicle" presumably.
The E200AV may be confused with the E200EV. Similar names, although in the "AV", there's no "BYD" start.

 

[Gaelan]

Incidentally, I was on the first AB1 service, from Ferrytoll to Edinburgh Park. Rather underwhelming, really - sounds like, from a conversation with the "captain" afterwards, it didn't run autonomous over the Forth, only on the motorway section afterwards - and even then, it had to be manually driven around a broken-down car in the hard shoulder/bus lane.

I get the feeling the bus - at least, the portion of its functionality they're using at the moment - is about as "autonomous" as the average car sold in the past few years.

 

[GusB]

The autonomous buses have launched recently - as you probably know - and they have their own vehicle type, the ADL Enviro200AV. "AV" means "autonomous vehicle" presumably.
The E200AV may be confused with the E200EV. Similar names, although in the "AV", there's no "BYD" start.

I suspect that "User 164" on bus times.org is just making things up here. While some people who contribute to bustimes make an effort to ensure that their information is accurate, it's like Wikipedia in that any old crank can add rubbish.

 

[OptareLover]

According to ADL, it's suprisingly actually called the "ADL Enviro200AV"

I would've thought that's rubbish too. https://www.alexander-dennis.com/me...-may-with-alexander-dennis-enviro200av-fleet/

Alexander Dennis, a subsidiary of NFI Group Inc., one of the world’s leading independent global bus manufacturers, today announced that the CAVForth autonomous bus service in East Scotland will begin on 15th May 2023, using five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV buses.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

I suspect that "User 164" on bus times.org is just making things up here.

For a bad edit though it has an extremely high score, 27. Having been a user on the site for over a year now, for an edit to gain a score like that in such a short space of time is very very rare, and would certainly make you think it has a pretty high chance of being correct.

 

[roadierway77]

I suspect that "User 164" on bus times.org is just making things up here. While some people who contribute to bustimes make an effort to ensure that their information is accurate, it's like Wikipedia in that any old crank can add rubbish.

Nope, the buses are referred to as Enviro200AV on the CAVForth website - they're the first buses of that vehicle type though so I can understand skepticism: https://www.cavforth.com/uks-first-full-sized-fleet-of-autonomous-vehicles-to-be-launched-in-may/

A fleet of five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV vehicles will cover a 14-mile route, in mixed traffic, at up to 50mph across the iconic Forth Road Bridge from Ferrytoll Park & Ride, in Fife to Edinburgh Park Transport Interchange.

Incidentally, I was on the first AB1 service, from Ferrytoll to Edinburgh Park. Rather underwhelming, really - sounds like, from a conversation with the "captain" afterwards, it didn't run autonomous over the Forth, only on the motorway section afterwards - and even then, it had to be manually driven around a broken-down car in the hard shoulder/bus lane.

I get the feeling the bus - at least, the portion of its functionality they're using at the moment - is about as "autonomous" as the average car sold in the past few years.

I was on the first service as well and I agree - I believe the technology is somewhat impressive but users were led to believe that the majority of the route would be undertaken in autonomous mode, while it seems only the sections on the motorways were. Even then as you mentioned the bus doesn't seem to be able to handle anything more than driving in an obstacle-free bus lane. I'm sure it's capable of more than that, but that wasn't demonstrated. Still, according to Roger French from the BusAndTrainUser blog, manual running over the Forth is meant to be temporary, so hopefully it can be sorted. The technology definitely still appears to be in its infancy - it makes me wonder how capable the vehicles will be of traversing the busy roads once the extension to Dunfermline is in operation, though the increased funding will likely also lead to improvements in the technology, and hey, as I mentioned the bus may well be capable of more than was demonstrated on launch day.

 

[overthewater]

On Saturday the bus went across the bridge in autonomous mode, it can be done. The bus is more capable than what has been demonstrated but those lights are the problems it seems.

 

[LothianBusesPh]

It doesn't seem to be well used, when I saw a few yesterday, there was at max 3 people on the bus, and when I went on it, I was the only person on the bus! I understand why it's not used that well though.

 

[Towers]

On Saturday the bus went across the bridge in autonomous mode, it can be done. The bus is more capable than what has been demonstrated but those lights are the problems it seems.

What a load of old PR rollox! Just let the driver, you know, drive the bloody thing!

 

[JKP]

It doesn't seem to be well used, when I saw a few yesterday, there was at max 3 people on the bus, and when I went on it, I was the only person on the bus! I understand why it's not used that well though.

Yes, it goes from nowhere to nowhere!

 

[JD2168]

How are these Autonomous Vehicles doing in service now the AB1 has been running for a while?

 

[LothianBusesPh]

How are these Autonomous Vehicles doing in service now the AB1 has been running for a while?

60004's Autonomous Mode was broken yesterday, it is meant to be fixed tomorrow, 62001 and 62003 are fine though.