Cambridge 'closest to driverless buses in the UK'

Cambridge is "closer to the commercial deployment" of driverless buses than any other city in the UK and most of Europe, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has said.

The authority plans to extend a trial of using autonomous vehicles until June 2028 and aims of deploy the vehicles on to Cambridge's busways routes.

The self-driving 15-seater buses have been serving the Cambridge West Innovation District, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, and the Madingley Road and Babraham Road park and ride sites. It has also begun trialling the vehicles on a busway in Bristol.

The GCP's executive board will meet on Thursday to discuss the next steps.

The Connector buses run on a loop aided by cameras and exterior sensors that mean they can stop if obstructed. A person is also present on each bus as a safety monitor.

The trial has so far highlighted considerations around "ticketing, information, passenger safety, incident management and openness on the technology and safety features," a GCP report said.

It has also raised accessibility for people with disabilities as an "area of concern". A report on serving passengers with protected characteristics is being compiled.

The GCP said driverless buses could "significantly improve the public transport offering" in Cambridgeshire by allowing bus companies to run services for longer, including on routes they do not currently deem commercially viable.

The authority said it also wanted to "improve safety and reduce operating costs".

The project began in 2021. In 2023, it was awarded a £4.35m grant by the government's Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, followed by a further £1m in 2025. The first trial began last year.

The rest of the funding for the £7.8m project has come from the GCP's partners, which include bus company Whippet.

The GCP said the driverless buses had been trialled on the Bristol busway, and would next run on a test track that replicates the environment of Cambridge's busways before they are trialled there.

It has also bid for £4m for further testing, which would begin this summer and run until summer 2028.

The GCP said the project had generated "significant national and international interest" with visitors from across Europe, the US and Japan coming to see the driverless buses in action.

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