Birmingham to welcome driverless buses

Driverless buses will begin transporting passengers around Birmingham this month, the region’s mayor has confirmed. Passengers will be able to use the buses between Birmingham International rail station and Birmingham Business Park, via the NEC Birmingham.

Taking to Twitter, Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands, confirmed they would come into operation during March. As part of the project, a second route will also be rolled out between Coventry rail station and Coventry University campus – although no start date has been confirmed for this.

A mixed fleet of 13 automated shuttles will serve the two new routes, and the scheme will be supported by a new centralised Remote Monitoring Teleoperation (RMTO) centre. Operated by Transport for West Midlands, the RMTO centre will monitor the automated vehicles, and using 5G connectivity it will be able to control them when required.