Tech worries throw future of Hong Kong’s first driverless electric bus route into doubt
- The city’s first route has been operating in West Kowloon Cultural District for several months
- But doubts have been raised about the vehicle’s ability to operate in what was supposed to be a pedestrianised area
Hong Kong’s first driverless bus route may not survive its test run at an arts hub, after the district’s manager said the technology was not ready.
The West Kowloon Cultural District has been testing a self-driving electric minibus on a 1km route along the harbourfront for several months, with a proposed timetable to run driverless shuttle services throughout the area by 2023.
But Duncan Pescod, CEO of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, who is in charge of the area’s development, has expressed doubts about the vehicle, which was made by French firm Navya.
While the pilot run is seen as an important step for Hong Kong’s development as a smart city, critics have said it betrays the district’s promise to be a pedestrian-only area, and raised doubts about it coexisting with walkers.
“We have … no plans to introduce such a system at present,” Pescod said in an exchange on LinkedIn with politician Paul Zimmerman. “Indeed, in my view, the technology is not mature enough to use it in the district. Maybe in future.”
Zimmerman, founder of urban planning concern group Designing Hong Kong, described the autonomous bus as a “beeping monster”, referring to an anti-collision mechanism that chimes and stops the bus whenever it detects objects in its immediate vicinity.