EasyMile’s EZ10 driverless shuttle recently began operating without an attendant on board in Norway—a first for the country.
EasyMile has partnered with Applied Autonomy, Vy, Yara, City & Lab and Herøya Industripark AS for the deployment, according to a news release. The shuttle transports employees to and from the canteen area and main gate at the industrial park. There are two intersections along the route.
The EZ10 shuttle uses robotics, computer vision and vehicle dynamics to safely drive without an operator. It can recognize a stop sign and knows the difference between a pedestrian and a lamppost, for example. These vehicles can handle most driving situations independently.
Removing the driver allows for scalability, enabling one operator to supervise multiple vehicles from anywhere. It also makes the service more flexible, as vehicles can be deployed on-demand without having to wait for an operator to become available.
“This is a large and important step on the road to self-driving public transport,” Vy Director of Mobility and Tourism Synne Homble said, according to the release. “Within a few years, we envisage that small, self-driving buses will be able to transport people to or from public transport hubs for trains and buses.”
