NORTHERN Ireland has launched its first self-driving electric shuttle bus in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
The eight-seater vehicle, known as the Harlander, began its pilot service this July.
Running every 20 minutes on a one-mile loop, the Harlander connects Titanic Halt Railway Station to the Catalyst tech campus.
The service is entirely free to the public during its trial period, which continues through late September 2025.
Designed to tackle the “last mile” gap in public transport, the shuttle aims to link existing infrastructure with business and educational hubs.
Though the bus drives itself, a safety operator always remains onboard, seated where a traditional driver would be, ready to step in if needed.
This blend of autonomy and oversight is part of a cautious rollout from Belfast Harbour and its tech partners: eVersum, Oxa, Angoka, BT, and Horiba Mira.
The right-hand drive electric vehicle was custom-built by Austria-based eVersum and tested extensively by Coventry firm Horiba Mira.
Gavin Jackson from Oxa, the company behind the AI software, described the bus’s navigation system as “superhuman.”
Equipped with cameras, radar, and laser sensors, the Harlander creates a constantly updating geometric map of its surroundings.
“We fuse all of that input together into information that AI—the Oxa driver—is able to use to build a plan and drive the vehicle,” Jackson explained.
He emphasised that the bus can “see” in ways human drivers can’t, particularly in poor weather conditions like rain and fog.
The AI has been trained using data collected from Belfast’s streets and typical pedestrian behaviour.
This data was fed into a cloud-based simulation to help the software understand and safely navigate the local environment.
Mike Dawson, Belfast Harbour’s Director of People and Digital Transformation, called the Harlander a “groundbreaking project” and a key piece of the Harbour’s Smart Port strategy.
“Autonomy is going to play a key role in supporting current public infrastructure,” he said. “This is the future of transportation.”
Dawson acknowledged that new technology can raise concerns but emphasised the Harlander’s safety-first approach.
“It’s fully understandable people would be nervous,” he said. “But it’s a free service; we have a safety operator on board the entire time, making sure your journey is secure and comfortable.”
Eight weeks of intensive safety testing preceded the public launch, and the goal now is to monitor the passenger experience closely.
Feedback from riders will help shape future iterations of the project, both in Belfast and potentially across other parts of Northern Ireland and Britain.
Dawson described the current loop of four stops as “a model and a blueprint” for how similar services might be introduced elsewhere.
The long-term vision is ambitious: fleets of autonomous vehicles operating across cities, monitored remotely from centralised control centres.