Exciting news! On Wednesday 25 March, we finally got to try the award-winning Enviro100AEV bus, by Alexander Dennis and Fusion Processing, on public roads for the first time.
We’ve been on-board before of course, on private land – at the all-new vehicle’s unveiling at Cenex Expo 2025, at Millbrook proving ground, and then in Margate, for the Self-Driving Industry Awards 2025.
This was next level though – on-highway, in mixed traffic, as part of the UK-leading Connector project in Cambridge.
The first thing to clarify is that there was a safety driver, a chap called Nick. Before setting off he told us that the job was different to being a standard bus driver – less physically demanding, but more mentally taxing, requiring constant concentration but only occasional action.
The second thing to mention is the classic British weather. It was four seasons in the space of a couple of hours, beginning with high winds and pea-sized hailstones and ending in glorious sunshine!
Enviro100AEV test ride
We and other esteemed members of the press were picked up from the Trumpington Park & Ride facility, on the outskirts of the city, and successfully driven, almost completely autonomously, to the Cambridge medical campus – about a 2-mile journey.
There we alighted for a detailed briefing with key project partners – report to follow – before being returned, again in automated mode, to where we started. So, how was it? Well, see for yourself in this video…
A few important things to note…
The bus safely navigated an array of infrastructure challenges, including traffic lights, roundabouts and pedestrian crossings.
There’s an interior sign which lights up so all passengers can see when the bus is driving autonomously.
At one point, the safety driver intervened to push us over a zebra when someone stood right next to it, on their phone, not actually crossing!
There’s another point on the route where the safety driver currently takes over very briefly as the bus has to go on the wrong side of the road to make a turning. That’s a regulatory rather than a technical issue and the Connector team are liaising with the relevant authorities to find a solution.
A car could make that turning fine, which reminds us that this Level 4 pilot is pushing the envelope, using big commercial vehicles and actively seeking difficult test scenarios.
Overall, the ride was most impressive, very similar to any other single-decker bus journey – roughly comparable in terms of comfort to our Ohmio LIFT shuttle ride, except significantly faster.
All in all, a great day, and we look forward to trying it again as this government-backed project progresses.
