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This was Eglinton in Perth, Western Australia—not Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown. A six-seat autonomous shuttle was planned to carry passengers between Marmion Avenue and Amberton Beach, but the 2023 report that announced the trial did not confirm that public rides would be free. It also does not establish whether public rides began or whether the shuttle is operating now.
What was the Eglinton shuttle?
PerthNow reported on March 23, 2023, that the University of Western Australia (UWA) and property group Stockland were involved in a three-year research and data-gathering project using a locally developed autonomous shuttle in Eglinton, a northern coastal suburb of Perth in the City of Wanneroo. The report described it as Perth’s first locally developed autonomous bus; that description should not be read as a claim that it was Australia’s first driverless bus.
The proposed shuttle route ran between Marmion Avenue and Amberton Beach. It was a small, fixed-route vehicle with capacity for up to six passengers—not a robotaxi, a door-to-door ride, or a regular high-capacity bus service. The project aimed to gather operational data and passenger feedback while giving UWA engineering students practical experience. PerthNow’s March 2023 report is the source for the project details below.
Could members of the public ride it?
What was planned
UWA engineering students were expected to ride onboard for roughly three months during the initial phase, as the system was fine-tuned. Public bookings were then expected to begin around mid-2023.
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What was not confirmed
The report did not give a confirmed public launch date, booking link, timetable, final stops, or fare policy. Its headline asked whether readers would ride “for free,” but the article body did not clearly establish that the rides would cost nothing. “Free” could refer to a proposed trial arrangement, but the report does not say that. It is therefore not possible to treat free public rides—or even the start of public rides—as confirmed.
How driverless was it?
“Driverless” did not mean unattended. The report said a safety officer would remain onboard during the initial phase. It described the shuttle as autonomous and equipped to navigate and detect obstacles, but did not establish the service’s legal or regulatory classification, whether the officer could take manual control, or how an emergency intervention would work.
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The technology description is a list of equipment, not proof of safety or reliability. The report did not publish a successful-trip rate, intervention frequency, near-miss data, passenger numbers, incident record, or independent performance results.
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According to the report, the vehicle used RTK-enhanced GPS for localisation, eight laser-based LiDAR scanners, and two cameras to detect lanes, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, and other obstacles. Four LiDAR units at the corners were described as supporting hardware-level collision avoidance. The report also said the shuttle needed about two hours of overnight charging for the following day’s operation.
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No manufacturer, model, sensor brand, software stack, redundancy design, or test results were identified. A sensor’s presence does not show how it performs in rain, glare, heat, around temporary roadworks, or when GPS reception is disrupted.
What would a ride have been like?
- Capacity: Up to six passengers; the report did not say whether the safety officer counted toward that limit.
- Route: A planned connection between Marmion Avenue and Amberton Beach, rather than a flexible or door-to-door journey.
- Speed: The initial limit was 20 km/h. The report said the shuttle was expected to reach about 40 km/h once fully operational; it did not verify that it did.
- Stops and schedule: Still to be confirmed when the story was published.
At the stated initial speed, the shuttle would be a slow option compared with a car or rideshare; whether it would beat walking or connect conveniently with other transport cannot be determined without the route length, stops, and timetable. Accessibility, comfort, noise, wait times, boarding arrangements, and trip duration were not reported.
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What safety questions did the report leave open?
The onboard safety officer and described obstacle-detection equipment are relevant safeguards, but the article did not explain the operating procedures behind them. It left practical questions unanswered, including:
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- Who could intervene if GPS or communications failed, and what the shuttle would do next.
- Whether the route was geofenced, how it handled mixed traffic, and what happened when a road was blocked.
- How passengers would be evacuated after a breakdown, and how collision liability and insurance were handled.
- Whether the shuttle could carry wheelchairs, mobility devices, prams, bicycles, or beach equipment.
- Whether children could ride without an adult, service animals were permitted, and bookings were required.
- Whether it operated in poor weather, at night, or during roadworks.
The same PerthNow report noted that a different driverless-bus trial in South Perth was temporarily taken off the road in 2016 after GPS-signal problems. That is useful context for why localisation and fallback procedures matter; it is not evidence that the Eglinton shuttle had the same problem.
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What happened after the announced trial?
The project was described as a three-year research initiative, and the report said activity after July 2026 had not yet been determined. As of August 18, 2026, that article does not verify whether public rides began, whether the shuttle continued running, or whether the project was cancelled or extended. It also provides no later passenger, safety, reliability, or public-satisfaction results. The shuttle’s present status is therefore unverified.
So, would it be worth riding?
For someone curious about autonomous transport, a short, supervised ride on a fixed route could be an appealing way to experience the technology—if public rides were offered and the booking and fare details were confirmed. For someone who needs a fast, predictable, high-capacity trip, the planned six-seat vehicle, initial 20 km/h limit, and unfinalised schedule offered little basis for relying on it as everyday transport. The trial’s research purpose was clear; its confirmed public availability, price, and value as a transport service were not.
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