Most sustainable urban transport strategies include an expanded role for public transport amongst their measures. New technologies have often been presented as a means of making public transport more attractive when compared to other travel options. Integrating attractive transit with new development is also presented as a technique which can encourage public transport use. The present paper considers these three principles in the context of the MultiCAV project, which tested automated buses (AB) in Didcot (UK), a town scheduled for significant expansion. MultiCAV is one of the few automation projects to test urban buses capable of providing mass transit in a range of urban and peri-urban road environments. Findings are presented from evaluative research including surveys and interviews with potential users, actual users, safety operatives, and the project delivery team. It is found in the case of MultiCAV that automation technology has a high degree of capability, but is not yet sufficiently mature to operate a schedule service in complex road environments shared with general traffic without human assistance for specific tasks. Additionally, a solution for the tasks currently performed by drivers beyond the driving task also needs to be identified. Passenger acceptance of automation was found to be strongly influenced by the condition that an operative is onboard. If early applications of ABs were to be on segregated busways this would reduce or remove some of these barriers. Segregation would also give the services priority, capitalising on the cultural value of high-technology public transport, and increasing appeal relative to the private car. Such an approach would be particularly relevant for new development areas where segregation would be relatively easy to achieve.