As well as 24-hour robotaxis, San Francisco now has a driverless bus service too
Terry Chea/AP
- A driverless bus will run a seven-stop loop around Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.
- It can seat up to 10 passengers and will complete the loop every 20 minutes.
- San Francisco authorities last week allowed driverless taxis to operate 24 hours a day.
Just a week after allowing robotaxis to operate around the clock, San Francisco has launched an driverless shuttle bus service.
The small box-shaped bus will operate on a fixed route on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to serve its 2,000 residents.
While it has no steering wheel or driver's seat, an attendant will always be on board. The electric vehicle was built by Florida-based Beep, which provides similar transport in Yellowstone National Park and Miami Zoo.
Its introduction is part of a grant-funded pilot program to assess how autonomous vehicles can supplement the public transport system, The Associated Press reported.
"The autonomous vehicle will have a better reaction time than a human and it will offer a more reliable service," Shelly Caran, Beep's project manager, told the news agency.
Passengers on the Beep bus's first journey did not seem to be concerned about safety. "I didn't feel unsafe. I felt like I was riding any other bus," one told The AP.
Just a week ago the city was caught up in a battle over whether to allow driverless taxis around the clock across the city. Concerned residents and taxi drivers warned of blocked emergency vehicles, congestion on roads, and job losses.
But officials voted to approve an expansion of autonomous vehicles, giving companies such as Cruise and Waymo the go-ahead to offer driverless rides 24/7 across the city. They had been limited to specific areas at night only previously.
A day after the announcement, a number of self-driving cars stalled in San Francisco, leading to a bizarre traffic jam captured on video.
In a statement following the decision, the commissioner for the California Public Utilities Commission, John Reynolds, said: "I do believe in the potential of this technology to increase safety on the roadway."
Beep and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.