Paris began first experiment with driverless buses

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Paris began its first experiment with driverless buses on Monday, with city officials saying they were eager to prepare for the coming “revolution” of autonomous vehicles.

Two box-shaped electric vehicles capable of carrying around 10 people have been deployed-within the safety of a special lane-on a bridge connecting two railway stations to the east of the city centre.

The test unveiled Monday, which will last three months, is the first stage of the city’s embrace of self-driving vehicles which use a combination of lasers and cameras to detect other objects and people around them.

The head of the Paris transport network, Elisabeth Borne, said she envisaged the buses being used one day to connect homes and railway stations in the suburbs, which are served by overland trains known as RERs.

The advent of self-driving vehicles poses a series of regulatory, ethical and economic questions which policymakers will have to grapple with as the technology improves and grows more widespread.