VIDEO: Netherlands begins autonomous micro-bus trial

French car-maker Ligier has announced its EZ10 micro-buses will begin a pioneering new autonomous shuttle service from this May in a small town in central Netherlands.

Now renamed WEpods, the two autonomous EZ10 buses that make up the service will link the town of Wageningen’s train station to its famous university some seven kilometres away.

Shuttling to and from the station, the WEpods can also divert off its route and ferry students and lecturers around the campus too, if required.

Running on normal, public roads, the WEpods mix with all road users and operate entirely autonomously to such an extent that the vehicles lack steering wheels and controls.

Travelling at up to speeds of 30km/h, each micro-bus carries six people at a time and can be hailed using a smartphone app.

Created through a collaboration between Ligier and autonomous driving experts, Robosoft, the WEpods were originally set to use Google’s self-driving software until the US tech company refused to take part in the project.

Once that happened, to keep the project alive, both Ligier and Robosoft teamed up with fellow Netherlands-based partner, the University of Delft. Winning a $5 million government grant to develop its own technology, the WEpods were then tested extensively on a 200-metre stretch of public road.

Using live GPS tracking, 3D maps specially developed for the vehicles, plus the usual laser scanner, radars and 360-degree cameras the small shuttle service is expected to be rolled out to other Dutch towns and cities if the test is successful.

Ligier, meanwhile, is better known for its small pure-electric or two-stroke-powered microcars that are loved by under-17 and over-70 drivers throughout Europe.

The French company first began experimenting with autonomous driving aids back in the early 1990s, when it developed an auto self-parking aid for one of its small cars.

The small pure-electric city car was even capable of advanced manoeuvres like parallel parking, but was never put into production.