Paris officials are
experimenting with a self-driving shuttle linking two train stations in the
French capital.
Two electric-power
EZ10 minibuses, which can carry up to six seated passengers, were put into
service Monday and will be tested until early April between the Lyon and
Austerlitz stations in Paris. The GPS-guided vehicle is free and will be
running seven days a week.
"To
respond to the pollution emergency in big urban zones it is urgent to innovate
with new transportation systems that are more environmentally friendly,"
said Catherine Baratti-Elbaz, head of the local district where the test is
taking place.
Jean-Louis
Missika, a Paris deputy mayor in charge of innovation, said self-driving
vehicles "will change the urban landscape in a spectacular fashion"
within the next 20 years.
Conceived by
the French company Easymile, the EZ10 will also be tested between two main
green spaces in southern Paris later this year. The company said fleets of the
small shuttle are already operating in several countries across the world
including the United States.
"Let's
see how people will adopt them, how they will react in a vehicle without a
driving wheel and no driver," Missika said.
With a
commercial speed of 15 kph (9 mph), the shuttle has been designed for public
transportation to cover short distances. Equipped with a system detecting
objects, the EZ10 can adjust its trajectory to avoid obstacles and does not
need heavy infrastructure to be operated.
On the
Charles de Gaulle bridge linking the two train stations, the shuttles are
running on separate lanes and don't mix with other vehicles in traffic.
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