The Automated Bus Consortium, a collective of U.S., state, and municipal departments of transportation including the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan, is updating its request for proposals (RFP) first issued in January 2022 to procure full-size highly automated transit buses.
The state of Michigan is serving as the lead procurement agency on behalf of the consortium agencies. The updates will be made to the bus specifications and RFP based on lessons learned and the latest automation industry advancements with the goal of releasing the updated RFP in early 2024.
The RFP represents the first carbon neutral automated bus procurement and large-scale deployment for full-sized buses. Formed by AECOM, a Traverse City provider of engineering, consulting, and project management services, the Automated Bus Consortium is a first-of-its-kind approach to investigate the feasibility of pilot automated bus projects and accelerate the deployment of automated transit technologies.
The buses would operate in pre-determined environments and still have drivers, steering wheels, and pedals. Based on agency procurement decisions, these vehicles would be placed into service on pilot routes selected by each participating agency, resulting in significant advancements in understanding the impacts of automation.
Pilot routes for these vehicles would include rural and urban deployments, bus rapid transit, bus yard and local bus service.
Current local participants in this program include member agencies city of Detroit, Michigan Department of Transportation/Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, Huron Transit Corp., Capital Area Transportation Authority, and Michigan State University. Others include Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, MetroLINK, NJ TRANSIT, Trinity Metro, and RATP Dev USA.
“Our initial RFP was successful in further advancing the automated transit industry and generated much interest from industry partners,” says Jean Ruestman, administrator at the Michigan Department of Transportation/Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. “We can now apply lessons learned from the last several years, incorporate current priorities, and integrate updated automation requirements to better meet agency needs.”
By combining the purchasing power of multiple agencies across the U.S., the Automated Bus Consortium aims to accelerate the adoption of modern, safety-focused automated features not yet available to the U.S. industry. These features are designed to assist the bus operator in maneuvering the vehicle safely and improve service reliability.
Currently consortium members are gathering input from the bus and automation industry. This data will be considered as they look to make updates to the RFP requirements.
