What has happened with the proposed self-driving bus services?

Regular readers will remember that a project with a self-driving bus was launched in the city some eighteen months ago. Then a few test journeys were made last spring. But what has happened since?

Indeed, there was a lot of hype surrounding the launch of the project on Bahnhofsplatz in the city in May of 2017 in the presence of the mayor of Zug, Dolfi Müller, and Andreas Meyer, the CEO of the SBB company behind the project. There was talk of “one of the most exciting and cleverest projects” with Zug “playing a pioneering role in it all”. There had been plans for test journeys in the summer of 2017, though these never materialised. Then the SBB and its partners in this project, namely the Mobility Carsharing company, the ZVB transport company, the Zug Technology Cluster and the city itself, changed the type of bus used, as this initial model did not meet requirements.

A few months on, in March of this year, the bus did make its next appearance on the city’s streets, travelling at a cautious 6kph and with a specialist on board undertaking “mapping” exercises.

Then two weeks later, the bus, described as being a cross between cable car and a short tram, was taken off the streets and has not been since, though it has been announced it will make an appearance at the combined ZVB, police and emergency services open day at their An der Aa premises next Saturday.

When a journalist for the Zuger Zeitung called the SBB to find out what was going on, they said they would be making a press statement about before too long, and appealed for patience. The company declined to reply to other questions relating to future test journeys or whether there had been problems. Of note is that the costs of the whole series of test journeys has amounted to CHF 2.7 million, the contribution from the city having been CHF 80,000.

When the journalist asked the city authorities if they knew anything, he was simply told to contact the SBB.

The canton itself is not involved financially in the project at all, though it was behind the idea and would monitor its progress.