The rapid evolution of autonomous technology in the field of automotive and information technology (IT) has made it possible to implement autonomous vehicles (AVs) for public passenger transport. Although the shuttle bus transport capacities currently in use are low (maximum 15 people), the use of these transport units in large urban agglomerations is beneficial for society. The current paper is written to review the current AV implementation with respect to shuttle buses with its direct implications in their scientific evolution, with direct links to the legal and social aspects of public transportation all over the world. A critical aspect that is presented in the paper is the legal framework of autonomous driving, which is extremely uneven around the globe, with the direct impact of autonomous shuttle bus exploitation. As the legislation on AVs presents some shortcomings in the approval, registration, and public road implementation of these vehicles, many of the world’s major cities have found ways to integrate them into testing programs, establishing the basis for future comprehensive legislative measures in this highly dynamic scientific domain. The current technological solutions adopted by several autonomous shuttle bus producers will be presented with an exhaustive overview of each major component. The aspects of the control algorithm, with its complicated layers of security and perturbance factors, will be explained in detail. Thus, in some countries/cities, autonomous shuttle buses have been implemented on less-traveled routes where they can travel at speeds up to 25 km/h without hindering the public’s circulation, such as university campuses, industrial areas, airports, and sports bases. Some countries/cities use autonomous shuttle buses for pilot programs related to passenger transport, while others use them in postal transport and others for scientific purposes. In all of these situations, the first step in autonomous driving has been taken. The paper also makes an evaluation of the social factors that are a consequence of the mass introduction of autonomous driving as a means of public transportation. Autonomous shuttle buses are becoming a part of everyday life in big cities. Their acceptance as a strategic means of transport depends on their efficiency in daily services; through its efficiency, this means of transport will become a game-changer once its benefits become not only known but experienced by a large number of users.

Public buses ensure mobility for more than 450 billion passengers annually as a necessary means of transportation in cities around the world. However, buses have an image problem in the eyes of the urban population, because half of the buses in the EU urban transport fleet are in the best case classed as Euro 3 (European emission standards). Consequently, the renewal of bus fleets should be a priority in order to provide sustainable urban mobility. Our paper presents the benefits of replacing diesel buses in the fleet of Compania de Transport Public (CTP) Cluj-Napoca with electric buses and the impact of this change on the environment. Following the introduction of 11 electric buses into urban transportation, to replace the same number of diesel buses this study evaluates and highlights the reduction of CO2 as the greatest bulk component of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the context of renewing the public transport fleet of CTP Cluj-Napoca, the present work investigates the quantity of CO2 emissions removed from city traffic. Currently, in major cities of the world, there are policies to reduce GHG emissions by introducing the electric buses in the public transport fleet, moving toward the gradual replacement of diesel buses.

The public-transport sector represents, on a global level, a major ecological and economic concern. Improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) production in the urban environment can be achieved by using electric buses instead of those operating with internal combustion engines (ICE). In this paper, the energy consumption for a fleet of electric buses Solaris Urbino 12e type is analyzed, based on the experimental data taken from a number of 22 buses, which operate on a number of eight urban lines, on a route of approximately 100 km from the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania; consumption was monitored for 12 consecutive months (July 2018–June 2019). The energy efficiency of the model for the studied electric buses depends largely on the management of the energy stored on the electric bus battery system, in relation to the characteristics of the route traveled, respectively to the atmospheric conditions during the monitored period. Based on the collected experimental data and on the technical characteristics of the electric buses, the influence of the atmospheric conditions on their energy balance was highlighted, considering the interdependence relations between the considered atmospheric conditions.

In this paper the effects of an experimental bioethanol fumigation application using an experimental ultrasound device on performance and emissions of a single cylinder diesel engine have been experimentally investigated. Engine performance and pollutant emissions variations were considered for three different types of fuels (biodiesel, biodiesel-bioethanol blend and biodiesel and fumigated bioethanol). Reductions in brake specific fuel consumption and NOx pollutant emissions are correlated with the use of ultrasonic fumigation of bioethanol fuel, comparative to use of biodiesel-bioethanol blend. Considering the fuel consumption as diesel engine?s main performance parameter, the proposed bioethanol?s fumigation method, offers the possibility to use more efficient renewable biofuels (bioethanol), with immediate effects on environmental protection.