Western Romania city to test driverless buses
Cluj-Napoca, a city in western Romania, will trial self-driving buses in a pilot project set to roll out next year.
Cluj-Napoca mayor Emil Boc said the project is meant to confirm the city’s reputation as an innovation hub.
“We have started a pilot project in Cluj – which amounts to a confirmation of our brand as a city of innovation, artificial intelligence, development, research and IT – with this pragmatic aspect of testing a self-driving bus, without a driver, following the example of large European cities. This bus will cover the entire central area in order to show that the city supports modernity, innovation and artificial intelligence, which we will not be able to avoid. Autonomous transport will be part of the mobility means of the future and I hope to see it on the streets of Cluj next year,” mayor Boc said, quoted by Agerpres.
The mayor explained that the pilot project is implemented in a partnership with the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (UTCN).
“Cluj-Napoca wishes, once again, to set the tone in Romania with respect to public transport, after it was the first city to introduce electric buses,” the mayor said.
The self-driving bus will be able to transport 12 passengers, as it happens with similar buses running in Paris or Vienna, Stiridecluj.ro reported.
editor@romania-insider.com
