A first for First as first autonomous bus begins

Saturday 4th March 2023

Another new bus route began on Thursday.

It’s been given route number 001.

Operated by First Bus on a 15 minute headway it takes just under a quarter of an hour to complete its circular loop around the swish business park in Didcot known as Milton Park operating for almost 12 hours from 07:00 to 18:30 Mondays to Saturdays using a zero emission Mellor Orion E minibus.

So far so ordinary.

But this is no ordinary bus route.

It’s the most extraordinary one you’ll currently find in the UK.

Not only is the Mellor battery electric bus zero emission, it’s fully autonomous, driving itself on roads around Milton Park used by other traffic.

I took a ride around the circuit on Thursday afternoon, the very first day an autonomous bus has been let lose on UK roads carrying “ordinary” members of the public rather than special invitees. It truly was a first for First Bus and felt quite special to be on board and witness such a historic event.

The timetable has a half hour break mid afternoon so I arrived at the terminus bus stop outside Bee House on the Milton Park estate at 15:30 to travel on the first journey back in service.

And sure enough, right on time the bus appeared with Michael overseeing the controls in the cab as the short section of road around Bee House itself where the bus stop is located isn’t programmed for autonomous driving.

On board was Tim from Fusion Processing “the UK’s leading developer of automated driving software and systems” who was keeping an eye on how the software was performing.

There was also a supply of leaflets with lots of information about MI-LINK and the MultiCAV project.

It’s a free service for everyone so I got on board and took a front seat to savour the ‘hands off’ view and belted myself in with Michael explaining seat belt wearing is mandatory as a safety precaution.

Once we’d got on to Park Drive, the main spine road through Milton Park, Michael switched from manual to autonomous mode and we glided along at a steady sedate pace in the estate’s 20mph zone with hands off the steering wheel and feet off the pedals.

I’ve seen hands free driving many times on various guided busways around the country, but this was the first time I’d witnessed it on an ordinary road with other traffic. It was impressive, if slightly surreal.

Michael explained the software is programmed so the bus will stop at every stop as it’s not clever enough to know if anyone is waiting there or not.

So we duly stopped – perhaps a little abruptly I thought – at the first bus stop on the circuit albeit stopping a few yards short of the shelter and pole.

Having demonstrated that, Michael explained he can override the automated stopping which he did for the rest of the journey as there was no one to pick up.

I thought after maybe there should be a request stop button to push in each bus shelter with a link to the vehicle as on ScotRail’s Far North Line’s request stations!

The circuit includes a couple of roundabouts with the bus detecting any other traffic on all approaches simultaneously – there wasn’t any – so it proceeded as normal… but then Michael stepped in to complete the manoeuvre by manually steering the bus as it turned out a fuse had just blown and we were no longer in autonomous mode.

Tim was on the case as the same thing had apparently happened earlier in the day and he’d been able to fit a new fuse. This time he had to head off to Halfords to source another one as well as thinking there must be something not quite right for it to blow twice. This fault hadn’t arisen in any of the extensive previous test trials reaffirming the inevitability of new technology teething troubles to be expected with such an innovative project of this kind. Indeed, that’s the purpose of this latest phase of the trial.

We carried on our circuit only to then come across what is a bit of an obstacle to the success of the project.

Literally.

The obstacle being a section of carriageway closed for roadworks with three way temporary traffic lights, and just to complicate matters further, were stuck on red. Technology eh?! Thank goodness for human beings.

Michael was in command and got us through the red light explaining while the software would stop the bus on approaching the obstacle it wouldn’t be programmed to take avoiding action. So it was a good job Michael was on board otherwise we’d still be there waiting for the roadworks to be cleared away.

We were soon back at Bee House and Tim went off to buy a fuse while Michael got ready for his next trip albeit in manual mode – which was a shame as three employees came out of the office block to give it a go but went back inside on hearing the autonomous mode was temporarily off.

It gives an indication of the intrigue this trial will create and I suspect many of the 9,000 employees who work in Milton Park will be giving the bus a ride in the coming weeks to check out the novelty aspect of it. That is, after all, the object of the trial, to gain real life bus operating experience as the actual route itself isn’t of much use to anyone as it only loops round the business park itself.

However, this is just phase one of the trial. In a few weeks phase two will see the route extend to Didcot Parkway railway station which is a five or six minute ride to the east from where Thames Travel buses already provide a frequent service through Milton Park.

This should really challenge the software as the roads are proper public roads which are much busier, particularly trying to exit the bus stop area immediately outside the station. The driver of the bus on route X2 I took to reach Milton Park had to wait quite some time for a break in the traffic to exit and then only because a passing taxi gave way. I can imagine an autonomous bus might sit there for ages. Unless the driver intervenes – but doesn’t that rather ruin the idea of it being autonomous and ultra safe?

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how that phase of the trial goes and I look forward to reporting on this when it begins. Phase two is followed by phase 3 when First Bus will add a full size Switch MetroCity single deck on to the route which has been kitted out with all the necessary cameras and sensors, as this Mellor Orion has.

This project is being part funded by the DfT’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) which has chipped in £3 million as well as the commercial partners involved including First Bus who’ve also all contributed around £1.3 million.

First Bus is providing the drivers – six have been trained on a rota based in Slough – although the bus parks up overnight locally in Milton Park where the batteries are charged rather than heading back to Slough each night.

The leaflet answers the question “What can we gain from autonomy?” by explaining “running any type of vehicle is not cheap and this is equally true of buses. If we can find a way of reducing that operating cost, we will in future be able to extend the range of public transport to places where it is currently simply uneconomic and unaffordable to provide – either by commercial bus companies or funded by local authorities.”

The problem with offering an olive branch of that kind is it assumes the “operating cost” of a driver will be saved. It won’t. I may be a bit of a Luddite but I can’t ever see a time when a bus will be out in service on the UK’s public roads without a member of staff on board. The driver may be relieved of routine driving duties as technology takes on much of that role, but that’s as far as it’ll go. I believe it’s called Level 4 autonomy – ie with a staff member on board ready to take control.

It’s a fascinating project though and I’m sure many aspects of the technology will become standard on new vehicles in years to come particularly to enhance safety and for use in off road settings like bus garages. Well done First Bus for being at the forefront of this innovation and getting it on to public roads first.

Not far behind is Stagecoach which will soon have its autonomous trial ready to roll on a 14 mile route between the Ferrytoll Park & Ride and Edinburgh over the old Forth Road Bridge. It’s recently been announced this project is being extended to take in Dunfermline using an autonomous version of the next-generation Alexander Dennis Enviro100EV electric bus alongside the five existing Enviro200AV buses fitted out with the necessary equipment.

This is thanks to another £42 million funding from the Government’s expanding CCAV fund (with matched funding from industry partners) which sees seven more projects with Stagecoach involved in the two involving buses – a £6 million project providing a shuttle between the University of Sunderland and the Royal Hospital and one I’ll certainly be watching …. “a trial of on-demand self driving taxis to compliment existing transport services in parts of Cambridge”. That’s receiving £17.4 million – £8.7 million from the CCAV fund and £8.7 million match funding from industry. I understand up to 13 vehicles are envisaged. DRT and autonomous vehicles, can’t wait.

Interesting times.

Roger French

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