Authorities in Oslo, Stavanger and Kongsberg already have plans in motion to implement the driverless buses in the near future, reports broadcaster NRK.

Oslo has hired operator Ruter to carry out a trial of the buses within the next one to two years.

“This is a technology that can dramatically change the concept of public transport,” Ruter’s administrative director Bernt Reitan Jenssen told NRK.

“We do not know how quickly [the process] will go, but it is hugely important for us to keep up and make an early start to learn more,” Jenssen added.

One key aspect of introducing the new transport form is whether it will reduce the number of bus drivers needed to operate public buses, with large parts of bus networks able to run automatically.

“Automatic operation of both buses and cars will reduce the need for drivers,” Jenssen confirmed.

But the leader of the Yrkestrafikkforbundet (Vocational Drivers’) association said that this would not necessarily hold true.

“A driver does more than operate a bus. Drivers are also responsible for safety and to help passengers,” the association’s chairperson Jim Klungnes told NRK.

“Increasing numbers are expected to use public transport, so more drivers will be needed, so this will also be a part of what type of public transport we have in future,” he added.

Lawmakers in Norway’s Stortinget parliament will be concerned with safety, among other aspects, as they look to pass laws providing for the testing of driverless buses.

Minister for Transport Ketil Solvik Olsen told NRK he expected a law enabling testing to be passed, thereby contributing to ensuring the safety of automated transport.

“We want to provide for legal testing of automated vehicles on Norwegian roads,” Olsen said.

Much safety is already ensured by computers, but thorough testing was required to ensure 100 percent safety, the minister added.

READ ALSO: Driverless Norwegian public transport can create jobs: minister