By IANS,
Washington : A 60-foot bus has negotiated a 1.6 km stretch with the help of a magnetic guidance system, without the driver touching the steering wheel.
The driver controlled braking and acceleration, but the steering was completely automated, allowing the bus to pull exactly into stops.
Special sensors and processors on the bus, designed by University of California (UC-Berkeley) engineers, detected the magnets in the pavement and controlled the steering based upon the information it received.
Researchers said such precision docking would help shave precious seconds off of the time to load and unload passengers at each stop, adding up to a significant increase in reliability and efficiency over the course of an entire bus route.
For example, precision docking could potentially negate the need to deploy wheelchair ramps and make passenger queuing more efficient.
“Today’s demonstration marks a significant step in taking the technology towards deployment onto real city streets,” said Wei-Bin Zhang, PATH transit research programme leader at the UC.
California University PATH researchers have been studying magnetic guidance systems as a means of controlling vehicle movement for nearly 20 years.