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.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the development, deployment and challenges of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITSs) in Europe. Driven by the EU Directive 2010/40/EU, the deployment of ITSs has become essential for improving the safety, efficiency and sustainability of transport. The study examines how ITS technologies, such as automation, real-time traffic data analytics and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, have been integrated to improve urban mobility and road safety. In addition, it reviews significant European initiatives and case studies from several cities, which show visible improvements in reducing congestion, reducing CO₂ emissions and increasing the use of public transport. The paper highlights, despite progress, major obstacles to widespread adoption, such as technical interoperability, inadequate regulatory frameworks and insufficient data sharing between stakeholders. These issues prevent ITS applications from scaling up and functioning well in EU Member States. To overcome these problems, the study highlights the need for common standards and cooperation frameworks. The research analyses the laws, technological developments and socio-economic effects of ITSs. By promoting sustainable and inclusive mobility, ITSs can contribute to the European Green Deal and climate goals. Finally, the paper presents ITSs as a revolutionary solution for future European transport systems and offers suggestions to improve their interoperability, data governance and policy support.

The main objective of the paper is to capture the behavior of a vehicle on a race circuit, depending on the different inflation pressures of the tires (underpressure and overpressure). Taking into account that in the cornering the forces and the moments of inertia rise due the vehicle mass, and an inertial force decomposes in two components, one in the longitudinal plane and one in the transverse plane, the work aims the assessing the lateral forces that appear, to the contact between the tires and the tread, depending on the inflation pressure. The results have a graphic interpretation, enabling a comparative study of them. Results have been obtained regarding the lateral tire forces that occur between the tire and the road. The differences between these forces were particularly noticeable in cornering, and the differences between these forces were interpreted according to the tire inflation pressure.