Aurélien Fleurot / Photo credit: Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 10:30 am, June 04, 2023

In the capital, RATP will experiment with the transition to 100% autonomous shuttles from July. But before they reach the Parisian roads, it is time for tests. Europe 1 has boarded one of these autonomous and connected shuttles, which could join the Parisian roads in a few years.

In Paris, RATP will test a new autonomous shuttle. Sometimes in its infancy, or even completely disappointing, experiments are moving up a gear, thanks in particular to the combination of several technologies. An infrastructure connected to the shuttle makes it possible to gain fluidity and to integrate into areas with a lot of traffic. Illustration in the capital with this new shuttle that will circulate from the beginning of July for six months. Europe 1 was able to make the journey.

"A complementary offer"

"We are in the dense area with a lot of pedestrians, bicycles, cars, buses. It's very interesting from a technical point of view to verify all these situations in which the autonomous vehicle will have to succeed in moving forward safely," explains Côme Berbain, Director of Innovation at the RATP Group.

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Departure Gare de Lyon, passage in front of the Ministry of the Economy before joining the stations of Bercy and Austerlitz. A "complementary offer" to those already existing, explains the director of innovation, and above all an ideal playground to test the connected infrastructure that has been set up on the course.

First 100% autonomous services for 2026 or 2027

"We took a number of street lights from the City of Paris and equipped them with sensors with means of communication, including 5G, to be able to observe public space, to detect situations that could be dangerous, for example, a vehicle that would remain in the middle of the street because there is a breakdown. The goal is to be able to send this information in real time to the supervision so that the latter gives the right instructions to the vehicles."

For now, there is always an operator on board just in case, but he does not touch the steering wheel. The first services, 100% autonomous and remotely supervised, are planned for 2026 or 2027.