Ilmenau (dpa/th) - Bus passengers in Ilmenau should soon be able to use self-driving buses in the city's scheduled services. Two driverless minibuses are scheduled to start operating on the route from the train station to the campus of the Technical University in autumn, as the university announced on Thursday. The electric vehicles, each designed for six passengers, are kept on course with the help of a system for measuring distance and speed. The distance is measured electronically beforehand. Safe driving is guaranteed at temperatures from minus 15 to plus 45 degrees Celsius and even in rain, snow and fog.
The buses are a joint project of the Ilm-Kreis, the city of Ilmenau and the university, which was involved in the technical development through the Thuringian Innovation Center Mobility based in the city. They are financed by the Thuringian Ministry of the Environment, which is said to be contributing 796,000 euros, and by the Ilm district. The buses are operated by IOV Omnibus GmbH.
According to a university spokesman, the driverless buses are planned to start when the timetable changes at the end of September. This depends on whether the current approval formalities have been completed by then. According to the information, Ilmenau would then be the first city in Thuringia to use driverless buses in the regular timetable. An autonomous minibus was tested in Gera last year, but it did not go into everyday operation.
