The document discusses the feasibility of implementing driverless bus technology on the South East Busway in Brisbane, Australia. It outlines the current driverless bus technology capabilities like automatic doors, collision avoidance, and autonomous guidance. The document also reviews successful driverless bus trials in China and Brazil. While driverless buses could provide benefits like reduced dwell times and increased safety, the challenges of full autonomy like costs, integration, and legal issues mean current technology is not ready for widespread use on the South East Busway. A semi-autonomous system with features like precision docking may be a better near-term solution.

1. Feasibility of
Driverless Buses on
the South East
Busway
REECE HOUSTON N8888612
QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

2. South East Busway
• Major section of Brisbane’s BRT
• Two lane, two way road
• Extends from the Queen Street Bus Station to
Eight Mile Plains Station
• Key locations include Mater Hospital, Griffith
University and South Bank
• Provides connection to other Eastern Busway,
Inner Northern Busway and Boggo Road Busway

3. Why should driverless buses be
considered on the South East Busway?
• Provides fast and convenient
service through out most of the
day
• During peak times suffers from
bus queuing and passenger
overcrowding
• Mostly at high density stations,
Mater Hill, Cultural Centre

4. Current driverless bus technology
• Automatic door control
• Doors open automatically on arrival
• Sensors used to prevent doors closing
• Collision avoidance and warning
• Sensors linked to brakes
• Prevents crashes caused by driver error
• Increased safety

5. Current driverless bus technology
• Autonomous guidance
• Replaces actions of a conductor
• Information obtained through
sensors and position reference
technology (GPS, optic,
magnetic markings
• Precision docking
• Optical guidance or magnetic
sensors
• Docking in exact location
• Vehicle aligns precisely with curb

6. Successful driverless bus trials
• China Bus company Yutong
• 32.6km journey around busy streets
• Performed complex driving actions
traffic lights, lane changes, overtaking
• BRT corridor in Brazil
• Experimented with autonomous
guidance and precision docking
• Reduction in dwell times
• Increased operating speeds
• Increased comfort and satisfaction

7. Benefits of a driverless bus service of
the South East Busway
• Reducing dwell times due to precision docking
• Easy access for eldery/disabled
• Increased operation speeds, capacities, smaller
headways
• Increased safety and reduced risk of accidents
• Increased rider comfort and satisfaction
• Attract more ridership
• Efficient driving reducing emissions
• Help solve problems such as bus queuing and
overcrowding

8. Challenges of driverless buses on
South East Busway
• Technology for a fully autonomous
system still requires more testing
for reliability
• Cost of implementation
• Integration problems
• Legal and liability issues

9. Conclusions
• Driverless bus system capable of providing significant
benefits to service and efficiency
• Fully driverless system not quite ready for widespread
usage
• Too many barriers to implementation
• Very expensive
• Legislation issues
• Reliability In complex situations

10. Recommendations
• Fully autonomous driverless service not available at this point in time
• Driverless possible in the near future
• Semi-autonomous systems could still provide benefits to the busway
• Precision docking would allow for lower dwell times and increased
accessibility
• Collision avoidance help reduce the possibility of accidents