While it will likely be many years before fully automated busses and trains are readily
available for transportation across all use cases, technological advancements are moving
faster than legacy routing, policy, and infrastructure decisions can be planned. The
increased deployment of automated vehicles (AVs) for transit presents a variety of health,
economic, and accessibility benefits, including the potential to save lives by preventing
accidents caused by driver error.
Infrastructure Enablers and Automated Vehicles: Transit focuses on the unresolved issues in
transit-specific AV technology. As higher levels of automation are reached, public infrastructure
needs to be in place to unlock the full intended benefits. To effectively function at a high level
of automation, transit AVs require the integration of sensor data with complex decision-making
algorithms and the ability to quickly respond to changing roadway conditions. Both physical and
digital infrastructure are necessary to help enable automated transit operations.