Tampere is ready to use autonomous buses as part of its regular services

The Finnish city Tampere is ready to put an autonomous bus line into operation. The city has completed the necessary tests of the vehicles and has undertaken the training of the controllers, who will initially accompany the buses. The line will come into operation later in 2022. 

Tampere will be the first Finnish city to use self-driving buses in its regular public transport service. The plan to implement an autonomous bus service follows a successful two-month trial of the vehicles. The autonomous line will operate in the district of Hervanta and will connect a tram line terminal with the residential area of Lintuhytti, which is one kilometre away.

For the first six months of their operation, vehicles will have controllers on board to monitor the operation of the vehicle operation. These have been specially trained for the job after a 6-month long programme, which included critical safety skills and how to operate a traditional minibus. The latter is to ensure that controllers are able to take over the operation of a vehicle in the event of any trouble with the autonomous operation. After six months, the self-driving bus service is expected to reach a satisfactory level of maturity and receive a good level of trust amongst its users. If all goes to plan, controllers will then monitor the operation of the vehicles remotely.