“The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has granted authorization to transport operators Vy and Kolumbus to operate an autonomous bus on regular public routes without a safety driver.

The deployment involves the Karsan e-ATAK platform equipped with autonomous driving software supplied by ADASTEC and supported by the xFlow fleet management system developed by Applied Autonomy, according to a press note by Applied Autonomy.

The milestone represents a transition from supervised autonomous operations to fully driverless service within a controlled public transport environment. The vehicle is integrated into Stavanger’s public transport network since 2024, following deployment’s kickoff in 2022.

Within Karsan 2025 results presented in March, the manufacturer stated that is working on removing the safety driver from autonomous vehicles and aims to start fully driverless operations in Stavanger by the third quarter of 2026.”

From Sustainable Bus.