PostBus to test autonomous car service in four Swiss cantons

Eastern Switzerland: PostBus tests an autonomous car service Keystone-SDA

Starting in December, PostBus will be testing a public transport service using self-driving electric cars in four cantons of eastern Switzerland. Aimed at residents of poorly served regions and at quiet hours, this service can be booked via an app.

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The trials, which will be launched in just over a month’s time, will not initially involve carrying passengers. A back-up driver will ride in each PostBus self-driving car, the company said on Wednesday. The tests are being carried out in the cantons of St Gallen, Thurgau, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

Regular service from 2027

Regular service of these four-seater cars in Eastern Switzerland is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. The service is intended to supplement public transport services in the countryside and in underserved areas, as well as during quiet hours. It will be available on request. Ultimately, it should comprise a fleet of around 25 self-driving cars.

Passengers book their journey on an app. If other users book a similar journey almost simultaneously, the system will arrange a coordinated journey, thereby optimising the use of each vehicle.

PostBus sees this offer as a system “heralding a new era in public transport”. Once the system is up and running, the company intends to develop it gradually.

The “AmiGo” service is being developed in collaboration with the Chinese robot taxi manufacturer Apollo Go, which is owned by the technology firm Baidu. It is supported by the Federal Office of Transport, the Federal Roads Office, the authorities of the four cantons concerned, the TCS and other partners.

Trials throughout Switzerland

A number of public transport companies have been testing self-driving vehicle services throughout Switzerland over the last ten years. In 2016, CarPostal got the ball rolling, in a world first, with two small shuttle buses in the centre of Sion.

Public transport in Fribourg followed with two shuttle buses running between Fribourg and Marly. For the past two years, an autonomous minibus service has been operating in the city of Schaffhausen. Between 2018 and 2019, an automated service was tested between the Rhine Falls and the centre of Neuhausen am Rheinfall.

During the same period, Swiss Federal Railways tested a similar shuttle service between the station and a technology company site in Zug. The municipality of Gland tested a modular electric shuttle for a month in autumn 2023.

In Geneva, public transport service TPG carried out trials in 2018 with autonomous shuttles on public and semi-public routes. Since 2023, the canton has been taking part in the project run by the European consortium Ultimo, led by the German railway company Deutsche Bahn, which plans to launch the first autonomous shuttles early next year.

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