Would you get on a bus with no driver?
Coun. Michelle Holland thinks you soon might, and she's asking the TTC to investigate the idea.
"This idea has been about preparing the city for disruptive technology," she said. "I want to make sure the city is prepared for this new age … we know that within five years we're going to be seeing this more and more."
Coun. Holland's motion, which was seconded by Coun. Norm Kelly, asks the TTC to report on its preparations for the use of autonomous vehicles.
So far, nothing much has been done, said TTC spokesman Brad Ross.
"This is not something that is on our radar with respect to purchasing driverless buses or anything like that," he said.
"We don't even have driverless trains yet, and that's certainly nearer than driverless buses at this point. It's just not something that we're looking at."
Last month, the city started looking at the potential impact of driverless cars in Toronto.
Stephen Buckley, Toronto’s manager of transportation, said shared autonomous vehicles could potentially carry people “the last mile” between their homes and transit hubs.
Holland singled out the Dutch "WEpod" driverless bus as a "prime example" of the emerging driverless bus technology.
Summoned via smartphone app, the computerized, six-seat vehicles are expected to eventually transport passengers between towns in the Netherlands.
The TTC is already in process of automating parts of the subway. When the Automatic Train Control signal system goes live on Line 1 in 2020, computers will control factors such as train speed and spacing.
On the road, Holland thinks autonomous buses could work with services such as Wheel-Trans, which provides accessible, door-to-door service for people with disabilities.
"It's not something that is imaginary," she said. "It's something that is going to happen, and we have to be prepared for that.
