New Flyer Xcelsior AV

The New Flyer Xcelsior AV is a battery-electric transit bus fitted for automated driving, built by New Flyer on its Xcelsior platform together with the Maryland company Robotic Research. New Flyer presented it as North America's first heavy-duty transit bus offering SAE Level 4 autonomy. Robotic Research supplied two systems: AutoDrive, a sensor suite that maps the surroundings, makes decisions and follows a pre-programmed route, and AutoDrive ByWire, the mechanical actuators that steer, brake and accelerate. The bus is based on the 40-foot battery-electric XE40 chassis. The prototype was unveiled in January 2021, and the first three buses were scheduled for testing on the CTfastrak bus rapid transit line in Connecticut, a project of the Connecticut Department of Transportation backed by a Federal Transit Administration grant. The dedicated busway was chosen to test precision docking at station platforms and the platooning of several vehicles.