Self-driving buses hit the road in Cambridge

A new 26-seater autonomous bus is ready to enter the next phase of Connector – a self-driving vehicle trial for Cambridge. Following extensive virtual and on-road testing, the bus began operating on 17th December, with a second vehicle joining the trial in the coming weeks. The service will link Trumpington and Babraham Park and Ride sites with the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC), offering free travel Monday to Friday.

Connector is a Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) initiative exploring whether autonomous buses could form part of the city’s future transport solution. A smaller Connector bus has already been running in West Cambridge since June, carrying 800 passengers and covering more than 2,000 miles. The introduction of two larger buses will allow many more passengers to experience the future of bus travel at no cost.

Dan Clarke, head of innovation and technology at the Greater Cambridge Partnership, said: “In June, we rolled out Connector, the first-ever timetabled self-driving bus service in Cambridge, now just six months later we are launching two new larger buses as the second part of our passenger trial. We believe that there is real potential for self-driving vehicles to deliver sustainable, reliable public transport in Cambridge.”

Passenger experience
He continued: “As well as proving the technology can work and that self-driving buses can manage road traffic at scale, we are really interested in the passenger experience. We are working with Anthrometric as a research partner, to understand how people feel about using self-driving buses and how we can build confidence and trust in this new technology.”

Anthrometric, which specialises in research on human interaction with complex systems, is using immersive VR methods to gather behavioural insights on how people engage with automated transport. The Connector project is funded by the UK Government as part of the CAM Pathfinder Programme, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade’s Connected and Automated Mobility team in partnership with Innovate UK and Zenzic.

The Enviro100AEV electric autonomous bus being used in this stage of the trial was designed and built in the UK and recently won ‘Vehicle of the Year’ at the Self-Driving Industry Awards 2025. It integrates AI and high-performance computing with radar, Lidar and cameras to deliver fully automated driving. Built by Alexander Dennis and equipped with an SAE Level 4 automated drive system from Fusion Processing Ltd, the vehicles are supported by trained safety drivers at all times.

The Connector trial is being delivered by the Greater Cambridge Partnership in collaboration with Fusion Processing, Alexander Dennis, dRISK, Whippet and Anthrometric.