Prague's Metro D to Have Robot Drivers

The city’s new metro line will have self-driving trains, according to a new proposal

Dave Park

Written by Dave Park Published on 21.07.2015 19:00:00 (updated on 21.07.2015) Reading time: 1 minute

By 2022, Prague could have a new metro line that stretches south from Pankrác through seven new stations, ending at Depo Písnice.

From Pankrác to Depo Písnice, the metro would be an above-ground line. Later, an underground extension of the D line is planned to extend further into the city to náměstí Míru.

Information about the project (in Czech), along with visualizations for each of the new stations, can be found DPP’s “new metro” website.

Today, legislators are meeting to discuss preliminary arrangements for the D Line, which includes the purchase of land.

It’s a project that will cost in the tens of billions of crowns, and could partially be funded by EU subsidies.

One of the more interesting aspects of the preliminary plans, reports to Metro.cz, is that the metro line would be operated by unmanned trains: artificial intelligence would be responsible for transporting the line’s passengers.

While initial costs to develop the line’s AI software would be more expensive than starting with human drivers, the city would save money on future operating costs, according to the proposal.

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