Self-driving buses are being tested in China

A small fleet of self-driving public buses has started running on the roads of China's tech district of Shenzhen, Guangdong. The four buses are currently on trial, and will run over three stops on a public road about 1.2 km (0.75 mi) long.

But where typical self-driving bus projects involve smaller shuttle capsules, the four buses are nearly full-sized buses, able to carry up to 19 passengers. The Chinese buses will go up to about 40 km/h (24.8 mph), and are equipped with the typical sensing tech you'd find on other autonomous vehicles, such as Lidar, cameras and a GPS.

The public trial of the Alphaba project comes after rounds of private tests, which have already seen the buses cover about 8,000 km prior to this, China Daily reports. The Shenzhen Bus Group, which runs Alphaba, has pledged to start similar autonomous trials in 10 more Chinese cities after this one Caps.

Read more at Mashable

Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images

-jk