Montreal’s Olympic Park, home of the 1976 summer Games, is set to add a driverless automated bus next month to shuttle visitors between tourism destinations at the venue.
Transdev, one of the vehicle manufacturers to operate along pre-determined routes, is looking to test a 12-passenger bus along the route between a metro station and the stadium, Biodôme, planetarium and other stops.
The facility attracts more than three million visitors each year and is considered a perfect fit for a shuttle due to its sprawled layout, according to Olympic Park spokesman Cedric Essiminy. He also said that he would like to see the available technology develop, while also lowering the costs in order to provide a long-term future for the concept.
The automated buses would cost more than C$300,000 (€198,300/£169,900/$220,100), however, Mathieu Petit, a spokesman for Transdev partner EasyMile, said it would be able to minimise the price tag by almost half within a few years as demand and technology advances.
A driver previously shuttled visitors around the park, but was abandoned more than 10 years ago due to its inefficiency, according to the Montreal Gazette newspaper.
“We are years away from implementing that technology in our everyday activities,” Essiminy said, according to the Gazette.
“We’re taking baby steps, but we’re taking steps.”
The automated buses are being tested at university campuses, parking lots and medical centres in several countries around the world.
Other companies bidding to build automated buses in Montreal are Navya and RATP Dev.
“I definitely think it’s a path forward and you will see the industry start to evolve,” said Blaine Rigler, vice-president of RATP Dev, which operates three driverless rail lines in Paris.
