Self-Driving Buses Coming in 2016 to an Office Park in San Ramon, California

The self-driving future is coming sooner than you might have expected—to a suburban office park in California's Bay Area.

1 minute read

October 6, 2015, 2:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"A fleet of self-driving buses will shuttle workers around a sprawling East Bay office park next year, the latest evidence that robot vehicles are swiftly moving from science fiction to reality," reports Matt O'Brien.

"French firm EasyMile, a joint venture between carmaker Ligier Group and high-tech company Robosoft, has partnered with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority on a pilot project at the 585-acre Bishop Ranch business park in San Ramon," adds O'Brien.

Tests will begin even earlier, on the roads of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station a few cities north of San Ramon. The office park that will eventually include the self-driving buses is home to companies like Chevron, PG&E and other big corporations.

EasyMile has already deployed its "its low-speed EZ10 shuttles — known as SDVs, or Shared Driverless Vehicles — in closed environments in Finland, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland." The article also includes information about how the SDVs will be outfitted to fit the self-driving vehicle regulations of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

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