School of Architecture, Planning, and Policy Development ITB held a public lecture with the theme “Connected Autonomous-Bus and LRT” on Wednesday, 11 December 2019 at the Seminar Hall, 2nd floor of Sugijanto Soegijoko Building, ITB Campus, from 13.00 to 15.00.

The lecture was presented by Prof. Akimasa Fujiwara from Hiroshima University, moderated by the Head of Regional and City Planning Department, Dr. Ridwan Sutriadi. Prof. Fujiwara discussed his latest findings from Hiroshima City’s pilot study of a connected autonomous bus and LRT (Light Rail Transit).

Prof. Fujiwara started his presentation by highlighting that with an aging population and an increasing shortage of drivers, Japan is a nation where autonomous vehicles would seem to have a bright future. His research team initiated an experiment to run an autonomous bus on the tramway in order to reduce the delay of buses due to traffic congestion.

During the experiment, a self-driving bus equipped with a camera and GPS travelled along a city road in Hiroshima, entered the tramway, stopped at the bus stop, and exit the tramway. This pilot experiment turned out to be successful. In addition to this experiment, his team also conducted a survey to assess public acceptance of autonomous bus and LRT connection system. He concluded this session by emphasizing that autonomous vehicles can not only potentially increase productivity in the short term, but also induce possibilities of some externalities, such as urban sprawl, in the long term.

Contributor: Andani