Photos: The bus that doesn't need a driver

Most passengers would react in horror if their bus veered across the road while the driver sat back, hands off the steering wheel.

But scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have steered a high tech bus, seen here, using nothing but magnets.

The 60-foot research bus was demonstrated along a one-mile stretch of East 14th Street in San Leandro, specially embedded with a series of magnets for the test.

Sensors and processors on board the bus detected the magnets in the pavement and controlled the steering based upon the information they received.

The automated steering drove with a level of accuracy that puts human drivers to shame, pulling into stops within one centimetre of the kerb.

Researchers say such precision docking would help shave precious seconds off of the time to load and unload passengers at each stop, adding up to shorter journeys.

The ability to more precisely control the movement of the bus also reduces the width of the lane required for safe travel from 12 feet to 10 feet, researchers say.

Photo credit: UC Berkeley