Climate and environmental impacts of automated minibuses in future public transportation

This paper analyses the environmental impacts of electric automated minibuses operated in public transportation systems. The results are based on an environmental life cycle assessment study, which uses data from a minibus producer and field data from several European cities. It is shown that electric automated minibuses promise a reduction in environmental impacts within specific conditions and in several future settings. Their environmental performance largely depends on their average utilisation, lifetime and total mileage, the electricity mix used, and the substituted means of transport. Automated components affect environmental performance but are not its most important driver. The minibus’s contribution to climate change in near-future use cases is expected at 78 g carbon dioxide equivalents per passenger kilometre on average and only 39 g at peak operation.