A driverless bus solution in London has been snubbed by transport experts before it even rolled out across the city. The Ohmio vehicle made its first visit to London earlier this week and drives at 15mph. The slower form of travel takes passengers from Barnes High Street to Hammersmith Bridge and features no steering wheel.
Instead, it has just two benches for passengers to sit and alternate options for disabled travellers who need ramp access. Passengers must currently sit down and wear seatbelts, but in the future, it could hold 14 people and operate without onboard staff. Despite these revolutions in tech, it is unlikely London will approve their use anytime soon.
A spokesperson for the Transport Authority told London Centric: “We have no plans to introduce these vehicles on Hammersmith Bridge and no plans to introduce driverless buses elsewhere on the network.”
There is also the problem of how automated, robotic vehicles adhere to the Highway Code.
London Centric reported: “The technicians on board explain that the autonomous vehicles are too well-behaved. They insist on following the Highway Code, which is sometimes incompatible with making rapid progress on the capital’s streets.”
The bus also features air conditioning and is the first of its kind to be tested in London. It marks the first test for automated buses on London’s public roads in real conditions, alongside human drivers in their private cars and vans.
Charles Campion, a local architect and member of the Barnes Hammersmith Electric Light Transit group, says the team are testing the next steps of transport in London.
He said: “This is the future of transport: autonomous vehicles. It’s the future of taxi transport, of personal transport, but also public transport.”
Self-driving pod vehicles have also been suggested by the team behind the driverless bus. Community groups who were shown the buses approved of its use given the weight difference between the TfL buses and this newly developed, accessible bus.
A standard TfL single-decker bus weighs around 15 tonnes. Unlike robotaxis, the pods follow a fixed route and only weigh three tonnes, which the community group says would fit within the bridge’s weight limits. But much of the purpose of those lighter vehicles depends on Hammersmith Bridge being redeveloped and maintained to support heavier vehicles.
“There isn’t a business case for the government to fund the rebuilding of Hammersmith Bridge,” Campion said. “We’ve got to be real, and accept where we are now. We’re looking at a fleet of maybe 10 vehicles, eight running, with one pod across the bridge at any one time. We can carry thousands of people a day.”
The Financial Times’ Stephen Bush warned, though, that “The people of Hammersmith and Barnes mostly get what they want, a beautiful bridge free of cars. The drivers of Wandsworth will have to take longer journeys.”