Until the end of September Brussels public transport company MIVB was testing a small self-driving bus called SAM-e on the paved paths in the Woluwe park. They were taking passengers on board and I would not miss such an opportunity, so I went to take a ride.
The bus was only taking six passengers (there are six seats) and it went slowly – at walking pace, because it was sharing the paths with pedestrians an cyclists. It would actually be very nice to have such a slow speed service in the big park permanently for situations when you are just too tired to walk back, especially with children.
The conclusion from the riding experience on the software side is that it still needs a lot of work. There were occasions during our short 15 minute ride where the bus would just suddenly break without any obvious reason after which the bus would need to be reset. There was a MIVB person on the bus to do that.
The precision with which the bus was sticking to its past was striking. To the point that in the couple of months of operation on the weekends it had started to damaged the pavement, especially at the bus stops. Certainly the pavement of the park is not made for such wear.
According to MIVB in the next phase the bus will be tested in Neder-over-Heembeek in an area where, in addition to cyclists and pedestrians, it will also encounter cars.