The future of public transport is increasingly leaning towards automation, addressing issues such as driver shortages, road safety, congestion, and carbon emissions. However, successful deployment requires seamless interaction between automated buses and other road users, such as cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians. The Human Machine Interaction for Automated Public Transport Buses (InterAct) project, led by DAM Shuttles in conjunction with partners ADASTEC,  Applied Autonomy, and Vy Buss, seeks to enhance communication between self-driving buses and pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.

Building on insights from the previously EIT Urban Mobility co-funded project LivingLAPT, which focused on small autonomous shuttles, InterAct pivots towards full-size, full-speed automated electric buses. These vehicles offer higher capacity and are further along in the development towards driving without a safety driver onboard, thus bringing public transport closer to a driverless future.

In InterAct, the project will develop and test external human-machine interfaces (eHMI) that enable safe and intuitive interactions between automated buses and their environment. Pilots in the real-world environments of Stavanger, Norway and Rotterdam, Netherlands, will see the project integrate the eHMI solution into fully automated buses.

The missing puzzle piece? Human-machine communication!

While automation in public transport promises efficiency and sustainability, a significant challenge remains: the clear communication between automated buses and other road users. In conventional settings, bus drivers use eye contact and gestures to signal intent, creating trust and predictability. The absence of a human driver necessitates alternative interaction mechanisms to maintain safety and encourage acceptance of automated driving technology. Safety and trust are thus key challenges the project will tackle, working to ensure pedestrians and cyclists can reliably interpret the bus’s intentions without human intervention. Additionally, the project will work to enable a seamless transition for users accustomed to traditional bus services.

The human factor of automation

InterAct will develop and deploy eHMI technology, consisting of external text displays on the front, sides, and rear of automated buses. These displays will replace human driver gestures by providing clear messages to pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. The displays will provide important information, such as confirming the detection of road users or signalling when it is safe for them to proceed. The solution will be developed by ADASTEC, technology experts in the SAE Level-4 automated driving software platform for large-scale vehicles , alongside fleet management specialists Applied Autonomy. Real-life testing in Rotterdam and Stavanger will require technical adaptations to the solution tailored toward the mixed traffic conditions of each city and will focus on assessing how well the eHMI communicates with other road users, its impact on safety, and overall user acceptance.

During 2025, the project aims to have an automated bus operation driving between Rotterdam Meijersplein and the Rotterdam-The Hague Airport with the goal of reaching an average speed of 23 kilometres an hour. The 5 km route will see the automated buses, operated by DAM Shuttles, deal with mixed traffic conditions including roundabouts, pedestrian crossings, intersections with traffic lights and overtaking vehicles.

In Stavanger it is aimed to use the human machine interface between the automated buses operated by Vy Buss, and external road users, such that mixed traffic interactions between the automated system and the other road users happens safely without the use of the safety driver using eye contact or hand gestures.

Both pilots will use ADASTEC’s SAE Level-4 automated driving software platform flowride.ai, integrated into the buses, to enable the vehicles to handle bus stops, intersections, traffic lights, crosswalks, traffic participants as well as allowing for precise localisation. Applied Autonomy’s expertise will play a key role in determining the data that will need to be extracted from the bus to best understand the solution’s performance in the mixed traffic conditions.

Automation for a safer and more sustainable future

Improved safety, economic efficiency, and environmental and social benefits are key forces driving the move toward automated public transport. InterAct aims to demonstrate that clear, machine-generated communication will improve road safety by replacing potentially ambiguous human signals and decreasing accidents caused by human error. By replacing drivers and allowing for remote monitoring of multiple buses, automated buses will help the industry overcome challenges caused by driver shortages and lower operational costs. The InterAct project is a critical step towards the widespread adoption of automated public transport solutions.

Check out this video on ADASTEC’s SAE Level-4 automated bus.