(^28) ABC April 2018 busnews.com.au
SNAP CHAT INTERVIEW
is just dedicated to bus customers and the
bus industry. We actually have a combined
bus industry experience of more than 200
years and I’m very happy to be leading
such an experienced team.
ABC: So, just to clarify, it’s the largest
Bus team in Australia?
LD: Yes, so compared to competition in
the industry, a lot of our rivals look after
truck and bus, but our team is 100 per
cent dedicated just to bus, so in terms
of making decisions our team has full
autonomy for our bus customers.
ABC: What’s happening to the
Chullora office that we are at here?
I heard a while ago it was closing
and being relocated? Is that still
happening, or is it all still being kept
‘Secret Squirrel’? And if so, is the
RSPCA aware of this?
LD: [Laughs] We have only been leasing
here, so that time has run out after
about 15 years. We already have a Volvo
dealership at Blacktown, NSW, and are
currently also building a new facility at
Prestons, which will have dedicated bus
bays and key bus technicians for our
customers. That means two major sites in
Sydney, the latter opening in Sep/Oct this
year. They are both going to be solely Volvo-
owned sites. Plus our new HQ in Wacol,
Brisbane, is due to open in August.
ABC: Driverless buses! From a
Volvo point of view, what are the
implications for the Asia-Pacific
region?
LD: Volvo is quite advanced in
autonomous buses, and we have a
department in Sweden just dedicated to
autonomy and we see – if I may use the
buzzwords: autonomy, electromobility and
connectivity – all three of them as being
key parts of sustainable public transport
systems in the future.
A few months ago we announced a trial
of two full-length 12m buses in Singapore,
fully electric and fully autonomous,
together with Nanyang Technological
University (NTU), where they will run
the buses in a simulated mixed-traffic
environment and in a depot. Our view,
however, is that autonomy will come in
a phased, stepped approach, so things
like emergency braking and lane keeping
support, they are steps towards autonomy.
We see full autonomous driving amongst
mixed traffic still very, very far into the
future. The bus is actually the easy part – it
is more the regulations, infrastructure and
all the other stuff that needs to go around
the bus – all those things often take longer
to implement than the technology itself.
When we talk about autonomy, however,
we actually don’t see buses being fully
driverless in the [near] future.
For example, in Singapore we’ve already
seen the term ‘bus minder’ being used,
which is really interesting. So, ‘what
happens if a bus is in an accident and you
have to evacuate everyone?’ – you still need
someone there, so the ‘driver’ takes on a
more customer-focused role rather than
needing the skills to drive.
Where we see driverless buses working
sooner is in bus depots. In the Singapore
trial, for example, we are going to trial a
fully electric bus that comes to the depot
and can charge itself, wash itself and
dana p.
(Dana P.)
#1