The consortium of six major mobility players – Alstom, EasyMile, Equans, Keolis, Renault Group and StatInf – is preparing the launch of a new, zero-emission public transport service at Level 4 (without an on-board supervizor) of autonomous driving.
Awarded as a winner of the France 2030 call for projects on “Automated road mobility, connected and low-carbon service infrastructures”, the pilot project has received support from the French Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion.
The first deployment of a Level 4 autonomous mobility service on this scale, this project, known as Mach2, marks a decisive step in the development of automated public transport in France, and in Europe. The service will be operational from 2026 in the city center of Châteauroux (in the department of Indre), integrated into the city’s “Horizon” bus network, and operated by Keolis.
“Alstom provides operators with signalling solutions that enable them to ensure the safe and smooth flow of passengers. In this project, Alstom will provide the traffic light interaction system that will make the automated vehicle traffic safer and more reliable. This innovative solution will also allow interaction with emergency vehicles.”
The consortium brings together French leaders in mobility, each contributing its own area of expertise: Renault Group for the robotized electric minibus platform, EasyMile for the autonomous driving system, StatInf for the validation of critical software elements, Equans for the Computer Aided Dispatch and Automatic Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL) system, Alstom for the connected safety infrastructure and communication protocols, and Keolis for the operation and maintenance of these new public transport services.
See also Transport blog
