Aim: Automatic control for buses
Page 24
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A CONSORTIUM formed by firms in the vehicle-building business is now working on on a guided bus system, but the Government has not yet decided whether to support the venture.
Mr. Dennis John Lyons, director of the Road Research Laboratory, told members of the House of Commons all-party Estimates Committee last week: "A long time ago, both in this country and in America, the problem of guiding a vehicle was looked at, and we found the solution of guiding by reference to an electrical cable underneath the road.
"We are actually looking at whether one can guide specialized vehicles like buses, where the road is entirely prohibited to traffic other than the buses one is trying to guide." The Radar Research Establishment was investigating.
Mr. Lyons also said that the consortium— Throughways Transport Ltd.—was proposing a guided bus system, and putting money into the research.
A Throughways spokesman said that so far no prototype of an automatically controlled bus has been tried out. "Automatic guidance and signalling systems are in operation in some fields, such as the guided missile. The questions to be solved are how to adapt them for use on buses."
Consortium members include Leyland, Sperry, who specialize in systems of automatic control for ships, aircraft and missiles, and EMI who specialize in electrical apparatus and devices.