This is the "Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit" in Yibin, China:
Similar to self-driving cars, these "tram-bus hybrids" do not run on steel rails, but on rails painted white on the asphalt.
They are controlled by LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and GPS technologies so that they move precisely along these virtual lanes. At the driver's request, they can also leave the designated lanes to find their way around traffic jams, accidents, and other obstacles.
It travels on rubber wheels at the speed of narrow-gauge railways (70 km/h) and typically carries 300 people in three carriages.
Building one kilometer of trackless rails costs half of what building a conventional streetcar would cost, namely about 30 million dollars.
The virtual railway in Yibin, which went into operation in 2019, runs for over 17 km through the city and was built for an estimated 160 million dollars.