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8 Platformone February/March 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology An electric driverless bus is set to start operating on the city streets of Dunfermline, Scotland (writes Nick Flaherty). The CAVForth 2 project will use the CAVstar Automated Driving System, which combines sensor fusion for cameras, Lidar and radar with a machine learning system. It was developed by Fusion Processing in Bristol, England. The aim of the project is to show how autonomous buses can improve journey times and quality of service for customers while also reducing energy consumption and emissions. Fusion Processing’s latest version of CAVStar will be fitted to a fully electric Enviro100AEV bus from consortium partner Alexander Dennis. The system is capable of operating at SAE Level 4 and features redundancy on all safety-critical systems, together with additional redundancy built into the steering and braking systems. CAVStar receives information directly from traffic light systems to enable the bus to plan its speed to run smoothly from one green light to the next. That can help reduce energy consumption by up to 20% by reducing unnecessary braking and accelerating. It also means less wear on brakes and tyres, further reducing operating costs. That in turn leads to a reduction in brake and tyre particulates. These will be included in EU emissions regulations for the first time as part of the Proposals for Euro VII, which the project sees as a further benefit of using autonomous vehicles in public transport networks to help improve air quality, especially in cities. “CAVForth 2 builds on our experience of developing a fleet of five full-size SAE Level 4 autonomous buses,” said Jim Hutchinson, CEO and co-founder of Fusion Processing. As with the first CAVForth project, the CAVForth 2 bus will have a specially trained safety driver on board to monitor the vehicles’ autonomous systems, and a bus ‘Captain’ who will walk along the passenger deck, assisting customers and answering any questions they may have. A trial service in Oxford, England, is also planned using the CAVstar technology. The service, called the Mi- Link project, will feature a 16-seat, single- decker electric minibus, and will take a circular route around the Milton Science Park. A journey planning app, developed by Zipabout, has been customised for Milton Park to provide real-time updates on the service’s operating times between 7am and 6.30pmMonday to Saturday, running at up to every 15 minutes. Driverless vehicles Green light for bus trial The bus, although autonomous, will have a safety driver and a ‘Captain’ to answer passengers’ questions