World's First Autonomous Train Released

With all the talk about autonomous vehicles, ride sharing and predictions of their negative impacts on public transit, it was only a matter of time before the world's first autonomous train popped up on the scene.

Currently being labled Autonomous Rail Transit (ART), this vehicle is a cross between a train, bus and tram. Invented by rail transit company CRRC, the goal of the self driving train is to create affordable mass transit for communities that find fixed rail investments outside of their range. Priced in the same range as a bus, with each car being able to carry 100 passengers, could ART be the future of urban public transportation? Only time will tell. In the meantime, this will have to hold you over until the first ART line is completed in the city of Zhuzhou in 2018.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com