Commercial autonomy is also buses, not just cars

Are you familiar with the names Karsan, ADASTEC, Ohmio and Imagry? While most attention is reserved for the likes of Waymo, Wayve and Tesla, autonomous public transport, using buses and shuttles, is well underway. 

This piece follows strategic work I’ve done on autonomous OEMs and tech solutions designed for public and mass transport use. If you’d like to learn more, welcome to schedule via calendly or email me at [email protected]. I’ll also be at UITP (Monday) and MOVE (Wednesday-Thursday) and happy to catch up or get to know. 

Across the world today there are over 30 pilots involving buses (6m+ chassis, 20+ passengers) and shuttles (smaller than buses) on public roads. Early closed-roads pilots started 20 years ago, with recent years seeing buses and shuttles (for the sake of this article - all are named “buses”) join public roads. 

Of those, there are over 6 fully commercial services. This piece looks at five public roads - autonomous - commercial - bus services, which today serve as part of the transit network in their respectable cities. 

Kolumbus @ Norway

Launched in 2022 in pilot format, this service by Karsan (OEM) and ADASTEC (tech), managed by public transport operator Vy, runs today on a 2.2km route, drives at speeds of up to 50 km/h, and goes through a 800 meter tunnel. 

Seoul Cheongwadae @ South Korea

In July 2024, after a pilot period of 11 months, Seoul introduced a commercial autonomous bus service. The project, using a Hyundai medium bus and technology from 42dot (acquired by Hyundai, August 2022), is a circular 2.6 km route around the Gyeongbokgung palace gardens, with 5 stops. Passenger count is over 45,000. Bus fare is similar to human-driven services. This is far from being the only public road bus service in South Korea, with Hyundai leading many projects inside the country.  

Ishikawa Prefecture @ Japan

Launched in March 2024, this service removed its safety driver in March 2025, after transporting 18,000 passengers from a local airport to a nearby train station. It is the first service to obtain SAE Level-4 status in Japan. Tier IV supplied the technology, which is also used in many other Japanese public roads pilots.  

WeRide @ Beijing GXR service

WeRide operates many autonomous services across China, a mix of cars and buses. This service uses a van (not bus) by the name GXR, launched in March 2025. It spans several key regions within the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, including high-speed railway stations, and it is also approved for commercial operations on highways, including routes to and from Beijing Daxing International Airport.

WeRide @ France

Launched in March 2025 by Weride, beti, Renault and Macif, this service runs without a safety driver, operating along a 3.3 km route connecting the Rovaltain business park with the Valence TGV station. This service is designed to be commercial starting next month, for now still in pilot period. 

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