Photo: CTV News
As autonomous vehicles come to fruition, pilot programs and testing remain a crucial step in ensuring safety for their passengers, especially with a recent report holding that an operator of a self-driving shuttle was seriously injured.
The operator of a Whitby, Ontario Autonomous Vehicle Electric (WAVE) self-driving shuttle bus was severely injured on Thursday, after the bus collided into a tree near Watson and Victoria Street, according to CTV News.
The cause of the crash is unknown, and the operator is in critical condition at a nearby trauma center.
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Acting Sergeant George Tudos said, “There was one operator on board. No pedestrians or any passengers so that one person did suffer critical injuries.” Tudos continued, “We are doing a parallel investigation with the Ministry of Labour to try to determine exactly what happened.”
The accident, which took place at about 4:00 p.m., occurred with no passengers on board and fortunately didn’t encounter any pedestrians.
The WAVE bus began a pilot program in Whitby last month, spanning about six kilometers of road beginning and ending with the Whitby GO station.
In addition, the bus can only go a top speed of 20 km/hr, and features 360-degree cameras and a robust radar system for scanning its surroundings.
