First driverless pods to travel public roads arrive in the Netherlands
First driverless pods to travel public roads arrive in
the Netherlands
The WEpod will be the first self-driving electric shuttle
to run in regular traffic, and take bookings via a dedicated app
The WEpod has already been tested in private areas in
Finland and Switzerland
Madhu Murgia By Madhumita Murgia 11:06AM BST 21 Sep 2015
The first self-driving electric shuttle for use on public
roads has been delivered to the Netherlands. The "WEpod" will take
passengers between the two towns of Wageningen and Ede in the province of
Gelderland from November.
Autonomous public transportation does exist in other
parts of the world, such as the ParkShuttle bus in Rotterdam, the Heathrow Pod
in London and the LUTZ Pathfinder in Milton Keynes, which run on special single
trajectory lanes, or in pedestrianised areas. The WEpods in Gelderland will
drive on regular roads amongst public traffic.
During its test phase it will not travel in challenging
conditions, such as in rush hour traffic, at night or in bad weather. A control
room will monitor the vehicle and safety of its passengers. The six-person
vehicle has a maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour.
The WEpod team intend to equip the vehicle with
additional technical equipment such as cameras, radar, laser and GPS to track
the environment the vehicle will travel in.
According to Joris Ijsselmuiden, a researcher at
Wageningen University which is testing the pods, the vehicles will also be
equipped with multiple cameras. The cameras are used to map landmarks, which is
used as an alternative navigation tool when GPS accuracy is masked by road
obstacles like trees.
The WEpod can be booked using an app which will allow
passengers to reserve a seat and specify their starting points and their
destinations. Vehicles are expected to select their itineraries independently.
The electric pod was originally designed by French
vehicle manufacturer and robotic specialists EasyMile. It was developed for
Citymobil2, an EU-funded project looking at automated road transport systems
across urban Europe.
Through Citymobil2, the electric driverless shuttles have
already transported 19,000 passengers in Vantaa, Finland and carried passengers
on the EPFL university campus, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The vehicles will initially ride on a fixed route, but it
is expected to expand to more routes and other regions in the Netherlands from
May 2016 onwards.
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