The first day of one of the first self-driving shuttle buses in the United States got off to a bumpy start on Wednesday. According to information from the City of Las Vegas, the NAVYA shuttle bus was involved in a minor collision with a delivery truck.
The city said in a statement that the shuttle, thanks to its onboard sensors, stopped to avoid a major collision. The delivery truck grazed the front fender of the shuttle.
The city said that had the delivery truck had the same sensors as the shuttle, the accident could have been avoided. The driver of the truck, who was not injured, was issued a traffic violation by police.
All eight passengers in the shuttle, all wearing seatbelts, were also not injured. The bus was taken out of service for the rest of the day, but is expected back on the streets Thursday.
The shuttle bus is part of a 12-month pilot project in the city’s Innovation District, in a partnership with AAA and Keolis.
The NAVYA shuttle, also in use in Paris, uses LiDAR technology, GPS, cameras, and can sense if a pedestrian walks out in front of it and brake immediately.
The test loop in Las Vegas is a kilometre long and the shuttle offers free rides to people who want to experience autonomous driving. This isn’t the first incident involving self-driving vehicles, with an UBER involved in an accident in Arizona earlier this year.
