An electric, driverless shuttle bus will take to the Dutch public streets on Thursday, taking six passengers along a 200 metre (yard) stretch of road.

The WePod, one of a fleet to be rolled out in coming years, will ride back and forth in the central Dutch agricultural town of Wageningen.

Several trials of so-called autonomous vehicles are under way in the automotive and technology industries, from Tesla's Model S sedan, which can change lanes with minimal driver input, to plans by Google and Daimler to introduce driverless vehicles.

The shuttle pilot project will be expanded in coming months and will eventually be used as public transport along a 6 kilometre route in the town, said Iris van Cattenburch of Connekt, a group of companies developing sustainable public transport.

In April, the Netherlands will hold the first trial with driverless semi-trucks at Rotterdam port, which autonomous road trains sending cargo from Europe's biggest port, throughout the continent by 2019. 

When fully operational, the WePods will travel at 25 km per hour.