Self-driving buses in Helsinki: did Finland just create a new model?

Imagine a future where a driverless minibus picks you up at your home and drops you off at a transit hub so you can board a larger bus, subway, or train.

This future is already being tested in Helsinki, Finland. The Scandinavian city is hosting two self-driving minibuses in the first public trials in real traffic. The two EasyMile EZ10 buses will drive up to 12 passengers along a fixed route through most of September, cruising at speeds of up to about 15 mph. The goal, however, is for a fleet to eventually be a “last mile” solution for passengers, Harri Santamala, the road test project lead, and an engineer at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, told Curbed.

“We are not aiming to substitute bigger buses with autonomous buses,” said Mr. Santamala. “We want to bring these somewhere where the conditions don’t permit a normal bus line [because of] a narrow street or it’s not dense enough. We could fill a gap in the mobility chain, make it more efficient and effective.”...
http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0901/Self-driving-buses-in-Helsinki-did-Finland-just-create-a-new-model