Driver -free buses at Iasi

Iasi could be the first city in Romania where an autonomous electric bus will run, without a driver, but for the transposition of this desire it is necessary to change the current legislation, Mayor Mihai Chirica said on Thursday.

At a press conference, Mayor Mihai Chirica and representatives of the Public Transport Company (CTP) Iași, those of Anadolu Automobile Rom and Karsan Otomotiv (Turkey) provided a number of details about the technical characteristics of an autonomous bus model and the advantages of using it in urban public transport.

The Chirica mayor has shown that for the purchase and use of such an autonomous electric bus, it is not only necessary for financial resources or the fulfillment of technical and infrastructure conditions, but also a legislative modification that allows the traffic on public roads of such innovative vehicles.

‘GEO 195 must be modified in 2002, regarding the traffic on public roads. The ordinance must be adapted in such a way as to allow the appearance in the public space, of course, responsibly, of driver -free vehicles, whether we are talking about buses, or we are talking about other experiments at the level of car manufacturers that implement this technology. (…) I don’t think it should take a lot. What would prevent a modification in Ordinance 195, to say in an article that they can circulate by means of transport, vehicles, as they call them, without a driver, autonomous, the condition is to be approved according to the regulations’, and in this way to put them in motion as already in some European states, « said Mayor Chirica.

The Karsan Autonomous E-Atak bus, presented for the first time in Romania in Iași, is the first fully certified autonomous vehicle at level 4, and is designed to operate without a driver in controlled environments.

The autonomous Electric bus E-Atak has a length of about eight meters and a range of up to 300 kilometers, a 100% electric motor and a transport capacity of up to 52 passengers, is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, such as GMSL sensors, remote monitoring and reporting systems, Lidar, Radar and Positioning through GNSS satell.

The bus is built on the already established platform of the Karsan E-Atak model, already in operation in several cities in Romania.

We remind that at the beginning of 2024, through a new European funding, of over 14.4 million euros, obtained by the National Plan for Redress and Resilitis (PNRR), Mayor Mihai Chirica and the representatives of Anadolu Auto Rom. Rapid loading on the route. The 25 electric buses have a transport capacity of 88 people, of which 32 on chairs, IT equipment and facilities for people with disabilities.

The value of the contract is over 14.3 million euros, and the company has 18 months to deliver the contracted goods.

The first two buses Karsan arrived in Iasi in December 2024, in March 2025, five more buses were delivered, and by the end of the year all 25 vehicles will run in the municipality.