City seeks partners to trial autonomous vehicles, with hopes of the first approved driverless bus on Italian roads within two to three years.Rome's city council has taken a first concrete step towards driverless public transport, publishing a call for expressions of interest from operators willing to help develop and trial autonomous vehicles on the capital's streets.  The notice, issued on 26 August by the sustainable mobility and transport department, seeks technology partners with SAE level 4 autonomous driving systems, meaning vehicles capable of handling all driving tasks without a human driver, but only within specific, pre-defined areas and conditions. This differs from levels 2 and 3, which still require a driver able to take control, and from level 5, the highest tier, in which a vehicle can drive autonomously anywhere a human could.   Transport councillor Eugenio Patanè said the goal was to bring "the most advanced level of autonomous driving that exists today" to Rome, after five years spent studying driverless schemes in other cities, particularly in the United States. "If we all row in the same direction, then after two or three years of hard work we could have the first approved vehicle running through Rome carrying passengers without a driver," he said.   Search for partners City officials have stressed that the call is exploratory and not a public tender: there will be no ranking of bids, no financial commitment from Rome Capitale at this stage, and no purchase of autonomous buses is yet planned. Any operator holding the legal requirements to trial such vehicles on public roads may apply, with the notice open until 31 December 2026.   The aim is instead to identify one or more technology partners with which to build a phased testing pathway and jointly apply for European funding calls, some of which close in early October.Officials have floated adapting Rome's existing Clicbus on-demand minibus service as a possible platform on which to build autonomous driving capability, with the vehicles running along protected, dedicated routes using cameras, radar and lidar sensors to detect obstacles, read the road and make driving decisions. Hurdles ahead Significant obstacles remain before driverless buses can actually appear on Rome's streets. In a video on social media, Patanè noted that Italy's highway code, under article 46, currently requires a human being at the wheel of any vehicle, meaning national legislation will need to change before a level 4 vehicle could be approved for use with passengers.   The city also says it will need to build what it calls an "enabling ecosystem", including comprehensive 5G network coverage and a digital twin of Rome's roads, continuously updated with traffic signs and markings, for onboard vehicle systems to draw on.   Photo credit: SariMe / Shutterstock.com