Driverless shuttles could soon be on Calgary streets

A driverless shuttle between the Zoo LRT station and Telus SPARK could be coming within a few years.

The city is working on a pilot project to make it easier for people to get over to the science centre from the zoo.

It hopes to have an autonomous vehicle in service for 2018.

Transportation Strategy manager Chris Blaschuk says the goal of the trial is to see if it could be incorporated into other parts of the city.

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"Areas like the university and the hospitals, that part of town, we've been looking for different transit solutions for that area for some time," he said.

"This, depending what we learn from the trial, would influence what we decide to do in that area."

The city is studying a wide range of future transportation technologiesto see which systems could likely come to Calgary.

Blaschuk says the city wants to be proactive in preparing for changes, rather than reactive.