Three autonomous shuttles are being evaluated in five European cities as part of a project to accelerate the introduction of new types of automated last-mile solutions.
Fleets of self-driving shuttle buses will be tested in cities in Estonia, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands and Norway as part of the Future Automated Bus Urban Level Operation Systems (FABULOS) project.
As part of each 50-day field trial period, the functionality, interoperability and security of the autonomous fleets will be assessed.
The first pilot launched on 14 April 2020 in Helsinki, and saw a fleet of three autonomous vehicles, including a Gacha self-driving bus, drive along a circular route starting from Pasila Railway Station, riding partly on a separate lane, at speeds of up to 40km/h.
The majority of the route is in mixed traffic and includes several crossroads with traffic lights, right turns, street-side parking and a roundabout.
There are three bus stops on the route and on-demand rides are available via a mobile app.
Pilots in Gjesdal and Tallinn are to follow this month, followed by pilots in Lamia, Helmond and again in Gjesdal in the autumn
Three suppliers have been chosen for this test phase – Sensible4-Shotl, Saga and Mobile Civitatem.
Each will pilot its bus solution in two of the five cities and receive up to €1m to prepare pilots and implement operational systems to validate their prototypes.
Following the completion of each pilot, representatives of the FABULOS project’s six procuring partners will carry out an evaluation process.
Procuring cities and third-party procurers can consider initiating a public follow-up procurement process in 2021 based on the insights gained from the FABULOS project.
All prototypes are expected to be commercialised.
Read more from CiTTi
https://www.cittimagazine.co.uk/v2x-testing-in-oslo/
https://www.cittimagazine.co.uk/new-partners-join-norwegian-self-driving-mobility-trial/
https://www.cittimagazine.co.uk/the-road-to-real-world-deployment-of-autonomous-vehicles/
https://www.cittimagazine.co.uk/could-vehicle-automation-make-carbon-dioxide-emissions-and-air-quality-worse/
