TfL announces new technology trials on its buses

6 September 2017

Story from the London Road Safety Council.

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that it is to trial new technologies, including autonomous emergency braking (AEB), on its buses.

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) will oversee the trials which also include features to alert pedestrians and other road users of the presence of buses, such as lights and audible warnings.

Other measures to be trialled include a redesign of the front of the buses to reduce the impact of a collision, changes to bus interiors – including higher-grip flooring – to improve passenger safety, and improvements to vision for drivers, including enhanced mirror design.

The results of the trials will feed into a new ‘Bus Safety Standard’ that will be incorporated into bus operator contracts from the end of 2018.

TfL has also published a report on the trial of the use of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) in buses, which took place in 2016.

The report shows that all buses fitted with ISA remained within the speed limit 97-99% of the time, ‘proving its effectiveness’. TfL says the extremely rare incidents of excess speeds were seen on downhill sections of road.

Earlier this year the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, set out a ‘Vision Zero’ approach to road danger in his draft transport strategy. This approach aims for no one to be killed in or by a London bus by 2030, and for deaths and serious injuries from road collisions to be eliminated from London’s streets by 2041.