In the capital, the RATP will experiment with the transition to 100% autonomous shuttles from July. But before they join the Parisian roads, it’s time for tests. Europe 1 boarded one of these autonomous and connected shuttles, which could join the Parisian roads in a few years.
In Paris, the RATP will test a new autonomous shuttle. Sometimes in its infancy, even completely disappointing, the experiments are moving up a gear, in particular thanks to the combination of several technologies. An infrastructure connected to the shuttle makes it possible to gain fluidity and integrate into areas with a lot of traffic. Illustration in the capital with this new shuttle which will run from the beginning of July for six months. Europe 1 was able to do the course.
“An additional offer”
“We are in the dense area with a lot of pedestrians, bicycles, cars, buses. It is very interesting from a technical point of view to check all these situations in which the autonomous vehicle will have to succeed in moving forward in complete safety”, explains Côme Berbain, director of innovation for the RATP group.
Depart from Gare de Lyon, pass in front of the Ministry of the Economy before reaching the Gares de Bercy and Austerlitz. A “complementary offer” to those already existing, explains the director of innovation, and above all an ideal playground for testing the connected infrastructure that has been set up on the course.
First 100% autonomous services for 2026 or 2027
“We took a certain number of streetlights from the City of Paris and equipped them with sensors with means of communication, in particular 5G, to be able to observe the public space, to detect situations that could be dangerous, for example, a vehicle that remains in the middle of the street because there is a breakdown. The objective is to be able to send this information in real time to the supervision so that the latter gives the right vehicle instructions.
For now, there is always an operator on board just in case, but he does not touch the steering wheel. The first services, 100% autonomous and supervised remotely, are planned for 2026 or 2027.
Source: Europe1
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