Benefits of Vehicle Automation for Public Transportation Operations

Over the past few years, vehicle automation has witnessed tremendous focus from both the academic perspective and industrial perspective. However, autonomous cars have been the main focus of many studies in the literature, unlike research on the automation of buses which is rare. Thus, this paper discusses the benefits of the application of the automation technology to the public transportation service. Autonomous buses can improve the quality of transit service, reduce the operating costs dramatically, increase vehicle utilization, increase the frequency of the transit service with low operating costs and allow for vehicle platooning. While many benefits can be achieved from the automation of buses, further research studies and focus from the academia are required to quantify these benefits, estimate the implications of the automation of public transportation service, and understand how these implications will affect both transit agencies and transit users.

Keywords:Autonomous vehicles; Autonomous buses; Public transportation