UK’s first electric autonomous bus hits the roads in Oxfordshire

The UK’s first electric, autonomous bus service yesterday took to public roads for the first time as First Bus launched the second phase of the Mi-Link service in Oxfordshire.

The 15-seat minibus, which will have a safety driver onboard, had since March been trialled around Milton Park science and technology community near Didcot.

The second trial will run every 40 minutes along the 2.3 miles between the Park and Didcot Station, offering a free service to the 9,000 employees of the 270 companies which operate from the science centre. It will also be open to the public.

It follows the launch last month of the UK’s first autonomous bus service on public roads, the CAVForth link across the Forth Road Bridge. As with CAVForth, Mi-Link uses Fusion Processing‘s CAVstar Automated Drive System.

Mi-Link is funded through the UK Department for Transport’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) as part of a partnership also involving Oxfordshire County Council, University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and Zipabout.

Veronica Reynolds, Sustainability and Community Manager at Milton Park, says: “The Mi-Link project, which also includes a fleet of free electric hire bikes, is intended to reduce the amount of car trips that occur within Milton Park.

“This trial service is set to complement the 4,400 existing bus journeys that are taken weekly between the Park and Didcot Parkway train station. This is in addition to the Park’s rising levels of bus passengers, which have almost doubled since 2019, with single occupancy car usage falling by 12% since 2021.

“As an innovation community committed to increasing the accessibility of sustainable travel, we’re thrilled that Milton Park was selected as the host location for the Mi-Link project, and can’t wait to see the full results of these landmark trials later in the year.”

The service, which is fully accessible for wheelchair and pram users, will serve key locations along the route, including Bee House, the Innovation Centre and Milton Feast street food market area.

Philip Campbell, Commercial Director at MEPC Milton Park, adds: “Milton Park is well known as an innovation and technology cluster, and through the Mi-Link project and drone delivery trials last year, we are proud to be a test bed for emerging technologies in transport.

“Those visiting the Park will be able to take an electric train from London to Didcot, utilise pioneering electric autonomous bus travel, before seeing game-changing breakthroughs happening day-in-day-out from the Park’s occupiers.”