Magnets, Not Drivers, Guide Campus Researchers' Bus Project

A new project by UC Berkeley researchers looks like a bus, runs like a trolley car and steers itself using magnets. What sounds like an oddity could be the future of mass transportation-an automated bus guided completely by magnets in the ground.

After nearly 20 years of research, the bus was unveiled on Friday at a demonstration in San Leandro. Onlookers said they were impressed as the 60-foot vehicle rumbled down 14th Street, manned by a driver but requiring no human steering.

"The bus went down the street very smoothly," said Chris Peeples, president of the AC Transit board of directors. "The driver literally had his hands off the wheel, the magnets steered it, and it came to a stop and lined up an inch from the curb."

Peeples said AC Transit was interested in the automation technology, and that it could possibly be used on bus lines around campus such as the 51 line.

The bus is guided by magnets much as a trolley car is guided by cables, said Wei-Bin Zhang, the research engineer who leads the university's transit research program, which is part of California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways.

There are two sensors on the bus for detecting the magnets, Zhang said. The sensors receive directional signals based on the magnets' alternating polarities and the magnetic fields they generate.

The magnets use the same material as ordinary refrigerator magnets, Zhang said, and are relatively inexpensive, costing between $10,000 and $20,000 for a mile of magnets.

Information from the sensors is processed by a computer, which controls a motor attached to the steering wheel, he said. The motor steers the wheel, but can be overridden by the driver if necessary.

According to Zhang, the goal of automation is to make transportation more efficient so more people will use it instead of driving. The system would also eliminate human error, make loading and unloading faster and allowing for narrower lanes dedicated to buses.

"If we start taking all these uncertainties out, then the bus will run much faster, very similar to a light rail system," he said.

Zhang added that precision docking is another benefit. An automated bus can sidle up to a platform with near-perfect accuracy, making it possible for disabled riders to board without deploying a wheelchair ramp.

Some students said they would be eager to try an automated bus.

"I'm all for it," said Ben Hsia, a chemical engineering graduate student who says he takes the bus to and from classes. "I feel like as long as it's tested thoroughly, I wouldn't be too concerned."

The California Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation have given $320,000 to the project. Both have offered to fund Zhang's newest project, a more operational bus which will carry passengers and is slated to run within a year.

The earliest a commercial automated bus would run is 2010, Zhang said.

"We're hoping that within three to five years, the technology can be commercialized, and we know that a lot of transit agencies are interested," he said.

Tags: MAGNET BUS