Flinders University to introduce driverless, solar-powered bus to ferry passengers at Tonsley
A DRIVERLESS bus will ferry passengers around Tonsley within months, and recharge at a solar garage, in two Adelaide firsts at Flinders University.
A DRIVERLESS bus will ferry passengers around Tonsley within months, and recharge at a solar garage, in two Adelaide firsts at Flinders University.
A $320,000 solar garage will be built at the Tonsley campus, capable of recharging about six electric vehicles at once — including the new autonomous bus.
The garage would be available for anyone to recharge their electric vehicles for free, and would also act as an education centre to spread awareness about green transport.
Marion Council last week voted to put $30,000 towards the project, which has attracted a range of other sponsorships, totalling $280,000, from organisations including Mitsubishi, the State Government, Zen Energy and Siemens.
The university was partnering with Mitsubishi to build the garage, which the company’s national plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales manager Craig Norris said would be modelled on one in Okazaki, Japan.
“On the roof there will be solar (panels) collecting the renewable energy, and there will also be a technology hub with battery storage,” Mr Norris said.
“We’re looking at having it right out the front on South Rd. We want it to shine at night so it will stick out like a sore thumb in a nice way.”
The university last week called for tenders for the supply of its first driverless bus, which would ferry people around the Tonsley campus, and to Clovelly Park Railway Station.
It expected it would be operational in about three months and, if successful, it would eventually buy another bus to move passengers around the Bedford Park campus.
The university’s head of civil engineering, Rocco Zito, said the project aimed to encourage people to use green energy.
“Autonomous vehicles are going to be part of our transport future,” Professor Zito said.
“The only way we’ll be able to get uptake is if people can kick some tyres and have a ride.
“Later stages of the project at Bedford Park will have (the bus) driving potentially on South and Sturt Rd.”
Marion councillors last week debated whether they should spend $30,000 on the garage, when electric cars were outside many locals’ budgets.
Cr Bruce Hull said the cost of electric cars would decrease.
“This is about us demonstrating to the community our commitment to the environment,” Cr Hull said.
It was hoped the garage would also be used to power electric cars shared by people moving into an 850-home housing development planned for Tonsley.
The university won $1 million in State Government funding to trial the autonomous bus technology, and will also use another $3 million from other investors to run the project over the next five years.