See a driverless bus putter through the streets of Paris

Paris has become the latest metropolis to welcome self-driving shuttle buses.

The city first offered rides on the two "EZ10" buses on Monday, Jan. 23 with city officials eager to prepare for the "revolution" of autonomous vehicles.

Both box-shaped, electric shuttles puttering along a designated lane -- which is estimated to be 1 kilometer long -- kicked off the city's three-month trial with these vehicles.

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The buses, which are capable of carrying 10 people, will be offering free rides seven days a week. There are already plans of expansion to other locations in the city later this year.

"Autonomous vehicles represent a revolution for every city on the planet [that] will change our urban environment and public space in a spectacular fashion over the next 20 years," Jean-Louis Missika, the deputy mayor of Paris, told AFP.

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Elisabeth Borne, head of the Paris transport network, says she hopes that the buses will one day be used to link homes and railway stations in the suburbs -- which are currently served by overland trains called RERs.

"We dream one day of having buses like these parked near RER stations which would come to collect passengers on demand," she told reporters at the launch.