No Driver in the Cab: Vancouver's SkyTrain Has Run Driverless Since 1985
Did you know Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain has carried passengers without a driver in the cab since December 11, 1985, when the Expo Line opened as a showcase for Expo 86?
Harper Quinn, Live desk · Sept. 25, 2026 · 3-4 min
VANCOUVER - Did you know Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain has carried passengers without a driver in the cab since December 11, 1985, when the Expo Line opened as a showcase for Expo 86?
According to TransLink's British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC), SkyTrain first opened on Dec. 11, 1985 for eight days of free service, then started revenue service in January 1986. The original line later took the name Expo Line after the Millennium Line joined the network in 2002. BCRTC operates the Expo and Millennium Lines on behalf of TransLink. The Canada Line is also fully automated and driverless, under a separate operating agreement.
Trains use SelTrac communications-based train control for automatic train operation, protection, and regulation. Propulsion on the Expo and Millennium Lines relies on linear induction motors rather than conventional rotary motors. BCRTC says trains reach a maximum speed of about 80 kilometers per hour over much of the line, and that SkyTrain serves about 350,000 passengers per weekday with an on-time service delivery rating of 96.5 percent.
TransLink describes SkyTrain as the oldest and one of the longest fully automated, driverless rapid transit systems in the world. Hitachi Rail, which pioneered the SelTrac signalling used on the network, marked 40 years of that deployment in December 2025 and said the system has expanded eight times to about 80 kilometers with 53 stations. More growth underway: the Broadway Subway extension of the Millennium Line is scheduled for completion in late 2027, and the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line is scheduled for late 2029.
Long before robotaxis sold empty-cab street rides, Vancouver was already moving crowds on elevated guideways with nobody at a wheel. The curiosity is not that metros can run driverless. It is that this one has done it in public, every day, since Expo 86.
Sources
Harper Quinn, Live desk. Harper Quinn is a senior correspondent on the live desk covering breaking driverless launches and permits. Previously reported mobility for wire services; based in San Francisco.
