The industrial port area of Nordhavn in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen juts out into the sea and is currently being transformed into a futuristic waterfront urban district made up of tiny islets. It is listed as the largest metropolitan development project in Scandinavia and, when complete, will have living space for 40,000 people and workspace for another 40,000.
At the moment, Nordhavn is only served by a nearby S train station and bus stops located near the station. There are no buses or trains within the development area, although there are plans for an elevated subway line and parking in the new neighborhood will be discouraged. This is a great opportunity for autonomous vehicles (AV) to operate as a new public transport solution, connecting this area more efficiently, says Professor Dimitri Konstantas from the University of Geneva in Switzerland.
“We believe that autonomous vehicles will become the new form of transport in Europe,” he said. “We want to show that autonomous vehicles are a sustainable, viable and environmental solution for urban and suburban public transport.”
Konstantas is coordinating a project called AVENUE, which aims to do this in four European cities. In Nordhavn, the team plans to deploy autonomous shuttles in a loop with six stops around the seafront. They hope to have them up and running in two years. But once implemented , Nordhavn’s plan can provide insight into how AV-based public transportation systems might work in the future.
The expert envisions these eventually becoming an on-demand, door-to-door service where people can be picked up and go wherever they want rather than predetermined bus stops and itineraries.
In Nordhavn, AVENUE will test and implement an autonomous “mobility cloud”, currently under development, to connect the shuttles to existing public transport, such as the nearby train station. An on-demand service will ultimately allow passengers to access available transportation with a single app , Konstantas says.
Integrating autonomous ferries into the broader transport system is vital if they are to take off, says Guido Di Pasquale of the International Association for Public Transport (UITP) in Brussels, Belgium.
“Autonomous vehicles must be deployed as fleets of shared vehicles, fully integrated and complementing public transport. This is the only way we can guarantee a sustainable use of autonomous vehicles in terms of space occupancy, traffic congestion and the environment.” .
Unique service
Di Pasquale points to a concept known as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) as a possible model for future transportation systems. This model combines public and private transport. It allows users to create, manage and pay for trips as a single service with an online account. For example, Uber, UbiGo in Sweden and Transport for Greater Manchester in the UK are exploring MaaS to allow users to go from one destination to another by combining transport and booking it as a trip, depending on their preferred option based on cost, the time and convenience.
Di Pasquale coordinates a project called SHOW, which aims to deploy more than 70 automated vehicles in 21 European cities to assess how they can better integrate with different broader transport systems and the needs of various users. They are testing combinations of AV types, from shuttles to cars and buses, in real-world conditions over the next four years. During this time, he expects the project’s autonomous vehicles to transport more than 1,500,000 people and 350,000 containers of goods. “SHOW will be the largest showcase and living laboratory for AV fleets,” says the expert.
According to this UITP member, most of the cities involved have tested autonomous last-mile vehicles in the past and are eager to include them in their future sustainable urban mobility plans.
However, implementing autonomous vehicles requires overcoming city-specific challenges, such as demonstrating safety.
“Safety and security risks have restricted urban use of automated vehicles to dedicated, low-speed lanes, generally below 20 km / h,” Di Pasquale explained. “This greatly diminishes its utility and efficiency, as in most urban settings there is a lack of space and a high cost to maintain or build dedicated lanes.” It could also deter users. “For most people, slightly faster than walking speed is not an attractive solution,” he said.
Di Pasquale hopes the novel technology will make higher-speed and mixed traffic safer, and ensure fleets operate safely by monitoring and controlling them remotely.
Each city participating in SHOW will use autonomous vehicles in various settings, including mixed and dedicated lanes, at various speeds and types of weather. For safety and regulatory reasons , all of them will have a driver.
The goal is to make the vehicle completely autonomous without the need for a driver, as well as to optimize service to encourage people to move from car ownership to shared services, according to Di Pasquale. “This would also make last-mile and on-demand services sustainable in less densely populated or rural areas,” he says.
Authorization
But the technical problems of making the vehicle autonomous are only part of the challenge.
There’s also the question of who pays, says Di Pasquale. “AVs require sensors on board, as well as adaptations to the physical and digital infrastructure to be implemented,” he explained. “Its deployment in the market would require cities to drastically renew their fleets and infrastructure .”
The SHOW pilots are scheduled to start two years from now, as each city has to prepare by obtaining the necessary permits and preparing the vehicles and technology, Di Pasquale says.
Obtaining authorization to operate in cities is one of the biggest obstacles. City laws and regulations differ everywhere, Konstantas clarifies.
AVENUE is still awaiting city licenses to test in Nordhavn, despite the fact that a national law was passed on July 1, 2017, allowing AVs to be tested in public areas. Currently, they have pilots taking place in Lyon, France and Luxembourg. In Geneva, the team has succeeded in obtaining the required licenses and the world’s first AV-on-demand public transport service will be deployed on a 69 bus stop circuit this summer.
Initial AVENUE results show that cities need to make substantial investments to implement AV and benefit from this technology. The legal and regulatory framework in Europe will also need to adapt for a smooth implementation of services, Konstantas continues.
Both he and Di Pasquale hope that their work can pave the way to convince operators and authorities to invest in fleets in European cities.
“Depending on the will of the public authorities, this may take up to four years until we see real, commercially sustainable AV-based public transport services on a large scale in Europe,” the expert concludes.
Original article
This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine
