Alexander Dennis has announced that the CAVForth autonomous bus service will launch on 15 May 2023 in East Scotland, using five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV buses
This announcement follows the completion of a testing programme and Stagecoach’s registration of the bus service, which will be the first in the UK to use full-sized autonomous buses.
The CAVForth project is a collaboration between Fusion Processing Ltd, Stagecoach, Alexander Dennis, Transport Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Bristol Robotics Lab, which is part-funded by the government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.
quote quotee=”Jamie Wilson, Head of Concepts & Advanced Engineering at Alexander Dennis, said:” text=”This is a thrilling milestone for this ambitious project which we are delighted to be delivering with our partners. Our Enviro200AV autonomous buses will demonstrate latest innovation in vehicle technology, and we are delighted that passengers travelling between Fife and Edinburgh will be able to experience this for themselves when the service launches next month.”]
Throughout service, a fleet of five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV vehicles will travel on a 14-mile route in mixed traffic at speeds of up to 50mph. This route will include driving across the Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh.
The service will follow a frequent timetable, providing a maximum capacity for around 10,000 passengers per week, the company said. Each bus has a seated capacity of 43. If this was the figure used in the capacity calculation, that would translate into the service running ~16 times a day per direction on average.
Two members of staff will be present on board each bus, including a safety driver to monitor the technology and a captain to take tickets and answer customer questions.
Scotland’s Minister for Transport, Kevin Stewart, said:This is an exciting milestone for this innovative and ambitious project, and I very much look forward to seeing Project CAVForth take to the roads next month. Our trunk road network can provide a wide range of environments as a diverse testing ground, and the ground-breaking and globally significant Project CAVForth will really help Scotland establish its credentials on the world stage.
