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'No Major Incidents' As Driverless Buses Launch in Estonia

Accepted submission by Phoenix666 at 2017-08-02 19:30:06
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Authorities have reported "no major incidents" after the first three days of a driverless bus service in the Estonian capital Tallinn [bbc.co.uk].

A pair of vehicles are operating on a route through the city as part of the Baltic state's presidency of the European Union, and have so far managed not to collide with any other road users, national broadcaster ERR reports [news.err.ee].

But there have been a number of near misses since the launch on Saturday, ERR says. An eyewitness reports that one of the buses failed to give way to a police car with its lights flashing on Monday; while an ERR photographer saw a bus ignore a red light at a pedestrian crossing, ploughing on regardless of the "surprise" it had provoked.

Despite no-one driving, local traffic law means that there still has to be a responsible person on board [news.err.ee], meaning that all passengers are greeted by a host. They've been tasked with explaining the technology to passengers new to the world of autonomous vehicles, ERR says.

Judging from the picture, the buses soothingly seem to be constructed out of Nerf [wikipedia.org].


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