State-of-the-art robotic buses are to start serving the population of Porto, possibly as soon as next year.
TSF radio has reported on the initiative which is going to be rolled out as a pilot-study in “several European cities”.
The new buses will run on electric energy, with batteries that can last around eight hours.
Paulo Ferreira – financial director of Porto’s transportation company STCP – said the pilot study should begin before the end of 2019, with the full service being launched in 2020.
The consortium behind the scheme is FABULOS.EU and led by a tech agency in Helsinki.
Other countries ‘coming on board’ are Estonia, Norway, Holland and Greece.
The three-year project will cost €7.8 million and be 90% funded by the EU.
The deal means that Porto’s ‘costs’ will be only €100,000 spread over the three years, said Ferreira.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
