Turkish bus manufacturer Karsan has been trying out its autonomous bus on a test track in Italy.

Karsan recently introduced its Autonomous e-Atak level-four public transportation vehicle, which can move without a driver on a planned route, to Madrid. It has now brought its driverless transportation technology to Bolzano, Italy.

The test drive, at the Vadena Safety Park Circuit, was organised by Bolzano’s public transport authority Sasa, along with Karsan and its Turkish software provider Adastec (www.adastec.com).

Designed for safe driving simulations and automation tests, the track offered an environment to observe the performance of the Autonomous e-Atak in different traffic scenarios. During the test drive in the closed area, the bus operated completely autonomously without a driver. Equipped with competent manoeuvrability, the vehicle stably handled tight corners and received full marks from the authorities for comfort.

The vehicle has already broke ground by carrying passengers on a 5km route for 18 months on the Michigan State University campus in the USA. In Stavanger, Norway, it has been carrying ticketed passengers in open traffic since 2022, and recently expanded its existing route by updating it with a route containing a tunnel.

Following the USA, Norway, France, Romania, Finland and Turkey, Karsan (www.karsan.com) plans to make deliveries to Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden in the first half of 2025. It has 11 autonomous projects in ten places.

The bus uses a combination of lidar, radar, RGB cameras, GNSS and sensors that work together to provide precise navigation and situational awareness in different weather conditions. The vehicle can reach a speed of 40km/h in autonomous driving in all weather conditions, day or night, performing all operations such as approaching the stops on the route, managing the getting on and off processes, providing dispatch and management at intersections and crossings, and traffic lights without a driver.

With a length of 8.3m, it can be fully charged in five hours with AC units and three hours with DC units.

The test drive was overseen by Daniel Alfreider, Bolzano councillor for infrastructure and mobility, Martin Vallazza, director of Bolzano’s infrastructure and mobility department, Astrid Kofler, president of Sasa, and Ruggero Rossi de Mio, general manager of Sasa (www.sasabz.it).

“Public transport is evolving, not only sustainable driving systems, but also digitalisation and autonomous driving will have a fundamental impact on the driving of the future,” said Alfreider. “As a province, we want to familiarise ourselves with new technologies at an early stage and test them locally, in order to actively shape the mobility of the future.”

Kofler added: “Sasa wants to always be up to date and has been actively testing new technologies in recent years. Autonomous buses could play an important role in public transport in the future. However, employees are and will remain central.”