A French company is testing an electrically powered self-driving shuttle bus in Downtown Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who rode the Arma, as it’s called, on a trial run down Fremont Street, said, “Being the control freak that I am, I was very nervous to get on this vehicle, but it is clean, has beautiful air and moves sort of swiftly but so beautifully.”
The 12-passenger vehicle uses radar to detect and avoid obstacles and GPS technology for navigation. It is being jointly developed by Keolis, a public passenger transport company, and Nayva, a company based in Paris that has put driverless cars on roads across France.
Jorge Cervantes, the city of Las Vegas’ executive director of community development, said the driverless busses could be on the streets for real by late summer or early fall.
“It’s a matter of fine-tuning the technology to make sure it’s safe,” he said. “The last thing we want is for something to happen.”
Arma was slated for further daytime tests up and down Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Eighth Street through January 20.
