• Since this Thursday and until August, two autonomous shuttles provide "the service of the last kilometer" on all the avenue Roumanille, in the continuity of the Bus with high level of service (BHNS) which circulates in Sophia-Antipolis.

  • "They will circulate every ten minutes at peak times on a schedule calibrated on the frequency of the BHLS", specifies Aurélien Bertherlet, the general manager of the Berthelet company.

  • This is the first time that such a service has been tested in real conditions, and in public, in the department.

Flashy colors and no driver.

Since this Thursday and until August, two autonomous shuttles provide "the service of the last kilometer" on all the avenue Roumanille, in the continuity of the Bus with high level of service (BHNS) which circulates in Sophia-Antipolis, near Nice.

An experiment has been launched for six months and this is the first time that such a service has been tested in real conditions, and in public, in the Alpes-Maritimes department.

The first autonomous #SophiaAntipolis shuttles have been transporting the public since Thursday on Avenue de Roumanille.

An experiment is planned for six months #BlackMirror #navettesautonomes @Sophia50ans @CASAOfficiel pic.twitter.com/75rWPpFApV

— Fabien Binacchi (@fabienbinacchi) April 7, 2022


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"They will run every ten minutes at peak times on a schedule calibrated on the frequency of the BHNS", specifies Aurélien Bertherlet, the general manager of the Berthelet company, responsible for operating this line, called SophI.A.bus, for the account of the Sophia Antipolis Agglomeration Community (CASA).

These vehicles, Navya shuttles with a capacity of fifteen seats, will circulate from Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., between 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

They serve for free (for now) five stops along this avenue and many businesses.

The shuttles adapt “to the behavior of other road users”

They "have an architecture of lidar and radar sensors that allow it to locate itself in its environment and to adapt its behavior to that of other road users", specifies the Casa.

This life-size test "allows us to assess the acceptability of such a service by users but also to continue to improve vehicle technologies, and therefore, in a second step, to imagine its implementation on much more long", explains Aurélien Bertherlet.

This experiment represents a cost for the Casa of 1.16 million euros, 50% of which is a subsidy.

The overall budget for the project is 8 million euros, including 4.6 million euros in subsidies.

Currently, fifteen other similar initiatives have been launched in France.

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