Would You Trust This? Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes Rolls Out Driverless Bus

Popular vacation spot, Sleeping Bear Dunes, in Empire, Michigan is testing out a driverless bus for an entire month.

Personally, the thought of getting on any sort of vehicle without a driver horrifies me.

This electric, driverless bus will make its debut in mid-August thanks to a $250,000 grant to Adastec, a company specializing in autonomous vehicle AI that moved from California to Michigan.

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This futuristic bus will be cruising the picturesque Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive at the Lake Michigan coastal park. The bus is now open for booking rides, but don’t get too excited as space is limited. And no, it’s not sticking around permanently.

“We’re just like a proving ground, in a sense,”

Scott Tucker, Sleeping Bear Dunes superintendent told MLive. He noted that this is more for research than it is for the usage of tourists.

Luckily, the new technologically advanced bus will have an emergency driver onboard as they test out its features like regenerative breaking (whatever that means). In attendance on the rides will also be two engineers.

At Sleeping Bear, the 27-foot, 21-seat bus will navigate a 7.4-mile, one-way route through a winding coastal forest, featuring both steep climbs and gentle bends. Along the way, passengers will enjoy views of rolling dunes and the picturesque landscapes of both Glen Lake and Lake Michigan. The highlight of the journey is a viewpoint perched atop a 450-foot dune, offering sweeping vistas of the Great Lakes. The Sleeping Bear bus will also make stops at the dune plateau, Lake Michigan and North Bar overlooks.