Autonomous buseshave been seen on the streets of Tampere before, but only as part of a pilot project. The service launching next Monday will charge passengers a fare.

According to Tampere's transport authority Nysse, a safety driver will be on board the robot bus when the service starts. The bus will become fully driverless in the spring, with its operation monitored from a remote control centre, the authority said in a statement.

The high-tech bus was developed by a firm called Remoted. Its CEO, Tatu Nieminen, confirmed to Yle that the Hervantajärvi-Lintuhytti route will be Finland's first commercial robot bus service.

"This requires us, among other things, to obtain operating permits and to meet the commercial service requirements set by Nysse," Nieminen said.

Daily service

According to Nysse, the robot bus will run on weekdays between 6am and 11pm, and on weekends between 9am and 10pm.

The bus will also take a charging break in the middle of every day, which will last about an hour.

The schedules and route can be found from Nysse’s route planner.

In addition to the robot bus, a small bus — driven by a human — will be available during disruptions or when the robot bus is charging.