led. Designers said the state-of-the-art bus will navigate the streets using magnets embedded in the road as markers.
Passengers will be able to hail a bus or "pod" using their mobile phone to pick them up from a specified location, to take them to a chosen destination. The bus has been developed by leading bus engineering designers Capoco Design in collaboration with the Royal College of Art in London.
A small model of the "pod" goes on show at London's Science Museum.
Capoco designer Alan Ponsford said the bus will work out the best and most efficient route for picking up passengers and dropping them off.
"The bus goes along sniffing out magnets in the road which tell it exactly where it is, so it can redirect itself to pick up passengers," he said.
He said the bus has satellite navigation, intelligent cruise control and onboard systems to control speed and direction and avoid hazards.
The buses will also be able to join up and run in a "train" where necessary. Alan Ponsford, Capoco's lead designer, said the pods would carry between 12 and 24 people and several could run together on main routes, before splitting up and going into residential areas. It could run along fixed routes but also work out the best and most efficient route for picking up and dropping off passengers based on their route.
Ponsford said each automated bus has satellite navigation and intelligent cruise control, as well as onboard systems to control speed and direction and avoid hazards.
The bus is an electric/bio-fuel hybrid and the lack of a driver is expected to reduce operating costs by up to 50%.
A prototype is due out next year and is expected to be tested in a closed environment, possibly Heathrow Airport.
If tests are successful, the bus could become operational within 10 years.
Designers hope to showcase the system at the 2012 Olympics in London.
If trials are successful, the bus could be ready to work alongside other modes of transport in cities within ten years.
However, Mr Ponsford admitted there were some problems to be overcome: a driverless vehicle at a French theme park ran over and killed a sleeping dog on the route and the sensors were subsequently re-set.
A pile of leaves might prove a difficult obstacle for sensors to assess, but if the pod stopped, a central controller would be able to use a camera on the front of the bus to make a decision whether it was safe to proceed.
