Leah Harnack/Mass Transit Magazine
34 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JULY/AUGUST 2017
UTONOMOUS TECHNOLOgy
is making headway in the
transit industry in the United
States. From autonomous
technology being
used to enhance safety
to fully autonomous shuttles off ering
a solution for fi rst-mile, last-mile
connections. At the UITP Global
Public Transport Summit autonomous
technology was on display.
Transdev in partnership with
EasyMile and Keolis in a partnership
with NAVYA each displayed
their fully autonomous shuttles.
Transdev and EasyMile
Mathieu Petit, a spokesman for
EasyMile explained that the company’s
fully autonomous shuttles
were being tested in locations in
Singapore, Japan, Europe and the
United States.
Th e technology in the shuttle
adapts to its surroundings. “First
we create a map,” Petit said in regard
to the demonstration shuttle.
“To program it I had to create a
map of the surroundings and the
shuttle is constantly comparing
the map to what it sees.”
With no operators in the shuttles,
how quickly do they stop?
“It completely stops, because
we don’t want any contact,” Petit
said. He added that they didn’t
even want a water bottle to come
across the path. “Our goal is to
have no accidents.”
To monitor any items that
come across the shuttles path, it
is equipped with LIDAR sensors,
GPS, odometry and IMU. Th ere
are also emergency stop buttons
located within the shuttle in clear
view of passengers.
“We are creating some intelligence
to create movement around
the shuttle. It will strictly follow its
own lane unless someone is in its
way,” said Petit. “We want to have
a control center in a few years. You
will have a button (in the shuttle)
that will talk to someone in the
control center.”
Keolis and NAVYA
Th e other autonomous shuttle
demo was through NAVYA and
Keolis; NAVYA manages the
shuttle and Keolis operates it.
Nicolas de Crémiers, marketing
director for NAVYA, said
they arrived just prior to the conference
starting and programed
in two stops for the shuttle.
Crémiers explained the shuttles
always operate on a set route.
“You choose where you want to
go, pick on the screen and go.”
Th e technology of the shuttle
is based on GPS and LIDAR;
there are four sensors in the front
and four in the back. Th e LIDAR
uses light waves to create a view
of the area around it.
“In Switzerland we are on
open roads where there are also
pedestrians and cars,” Crémiers
said. “We are the only one to be in
construction, manufacturing and
deployment. Most of our pilots
last a year. We want to know how
they run in diff erent conditions.
If you only do a pilot for a few
days, you don’t get a good idea.”
When the shuttle piloted in
France during for a month they
had around 500 thousand people.
Crémiers said that one of the
reasons that they run such long
pilots is so that people are able to
adapt to them.
“People play with the shuttle.
People eventually get a better understand
of the shuttle,” Crémiers
said. He explained that people
would play “chicken,” testing
the shuttles stopping ability. “In
Paris they played with it at fi rst,
but now since it took them from
their train station to their offi ce,
they like it.
Th e shuttle in Paris operates
with 24-hour service.
In keeping the shuttle secure
from hackers Crémiers explained
that the soft ware is secure. “You
don’t have a remote in the shuttle,
which is the safest way to prevent
hacks.”
A
S P E C I A L R E P O R T
S E L F -D R I V I N G
S H U T T L E S :
The Future
is Autonomous
By Maile Bucher
At the 2017 UITP Global Public Transport
Summit, fully autonomous vehicles
made their independent way circling the
conference center.
THE AUTONOMOUS shuttles are able to navigate
around obstacles through intelligence technology.