Self-driving bus tested in Woluwe Park this summer

A driverless bus will carry passengers around Woluwe Park this summer - in the Stib's first experiment with self-driving transport.

The mini-bus has room for just six people seated and another six standing. It will work a 1.5km route through the park, with five stops, and its speed will be limited to 15kph.

The first tests, without passengers, will begin this Friday. It will then be open to the public on weekend afternoons from 29 June to 22 September, except the Tour de France weekend (6-7 July).

Explaining the choice of location, Stib research manager Philippe Vandewauwer said: "Woluwe Park has eight-metre-wide roads. The buses will not have to interact with other motor vehicles, only pedestrians and cyclists."

The Stib experiment is inspired by Paris public transport operator RATP, which ran tests in a similar environment in the French capital - the Bois de Vincennes.

The bus is equipped with sensors to detect obstacles, as well as GPS tracking. During the test phase, an attendant will be onboard at all times, who can manually over-ride the automatic driving system if necessary.

Stib hopes to test out the self-driving bus in "more complex" traffic environments in Brussels in the near future.