The eight-seat bus, which ran between the Tartu City Museum and the Estonian National Museum (ERM), stopped operating in October.

The international project aimed to develop technologies related to passengers and test the communication link between the self-driving bus and the road infrastructure.

During the trial period, the use of 15 different languages was detected on the bus.

Roomer Tarajev, head of Tartu's business development department, said tourists mostly found the bus at the ERM.

"Many foreign guests wanted to buy a ticket when entering the bus and were pleasantly surprised that the riding experience was free. The most memorable trips were those when the bus had speakers of several different languages aboard, with the passengers being pleasantly surprised when the bus began to communicate in the same language and tell different stories about Tartu," he said.

Tarajev said the city received important information about how people embrace self-driving vehicles and the various challenges that are presented by the urban space.

During the four months, the vehicle covered 3,426 kilometers and 86 percent was done so autonomously.

With the help of smart sensors, a total of nearly 5,000 warning alerts were sent about cycle and pedestrian track user approaching a self-driving bus at intersections with limited visibility.

Dangerous overtaking by regular road users presented the most challenges for the self-driving bus.

The pilot project involved Yazaki Innovations, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Yazaki Group, US technology company Avanti R&D, Auve Tech OÜ, which develops self-driving vehicles in Estonia, and the City of Tartu.

In November, the project was also presented at the world's largest smart city fair, Smart City Expo, in Barcelona.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!