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Driverless bus may hit the road

Prototype going on display in London

Mike Yamamoto Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Mike Yamamoto is an executive editor for CNET News.com.
Mike Yamamoto

If you've ever ridden regularly on San Francisco's Muni system, you'd probably be willing to take your chances on a driverless bus. Safety is a relative thing.

A prototype of one such vehicle will soon be on display at the Science Museum in London, where it could be tested in the next few years. The bus, designed jointly by Capoco Design and the Royal College of Art, is an electric drive and bio-fuel hybrid that would be guided by satellite navigation, intelligent cruise control and magnets embedded in city streets, according to BornRich.

Best of all, passengers can use their cell phones to call for a ride from their location. Perhaps the "Taxi Hailer" was an idea whose time will never come.