The first ever virtual train track has been unveiled in central China by Chinese rail transit firm CRRC.
The driverless bus-train hybrid, dubbed the "smart bus", uses white lines painted on the road for navigation. The bus is equipped with sensors which allows it stay on the white lines.
Even though it is been called a bus; because like a bus, it runs on the road, it's modular and carriages can be added on it just like a train. The added carriages won't need a driver as well, as it follows a preset path which is made possible by sensors fitted to the train.
It is like having a virtual rail for the bus.
The 30 metre long bus is able to fit 300 passengers across three carriages. More carriages can be added or removed if needed.
The smart bus, or Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART), is touted to be much cheaper than subway or tram systems, since it doesn’t require infrastructure to be laid down. This could prove to be the solution for many medium or small cities in China that can’t afford to build train lines.
It costs up to $102 million to build a kilometre of a subway track, as compared to about $2 million for a standard length ART bus.
A 6.5km ART line will be built in the Chinese city of Zhuzhou, with operations starting in 2018.
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