Automated bus shuttle tested in Spiegelau
On Thursday, August 8th, the partners of the 5G in the National Park Region (5GNPR) project came together in Spiegelau for the completion of a part of the project, in which the construction of an automated bus shuttle for tourists was tested. In addition to the Technology Campus (TC) Freyung, a research location of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (THD), which is in charge of the project, the companies Schiller Automatisierungstechnik, b-plus technologies, DBRegio and the municipality of Spiegelau are involved in this part of the project. The pilot project is intended to provide important insights into the efficiency of autonomous vehicles in remote and natural areas.
The 5GNPR project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs and is researching 5G applications for various scenarios in the rural and densely wooded low mountain region around the Bavarian Forest National Park. These are being tested in tourist communities such as Spiegelau. Testing the construction of an automated bus shuttle covers the mobility and transport pillar of the project. The actual test route of the bus led from the P+R parking lot in Spiegelau to the “Gfäll” parking lot. According to the project coordinator at TC Freyung, Sebastian Kohler, the route presented a number of challenges that had to be overcome as part of the project. Numerous sensors and cameras attached to the bus collected and evaluated data in real time to enable safe and precise navigation.
The results obtained can then serve as a model for similar regions worldwide and thus contribute to sustainable mobility in the future. “There is already a huge shortage of drivers in Germany. Automated and, in future, autonomous driving can help to close this gap in the future. The findings from the 5GNPR project will be incorporated into new and ongoing projects in order to come a step closer to the goal of strengthening public transport through automation,” says Lars Abeler from DBRegio. Bernhard Pfeffer from b-plus technologies also sees further potential in the simulation solution developed in the project, which virtually maps the route, bus and other road users. In future, this could be used to illuminate various capacity utilization scenarios and improve traffic and visitor management.
In the project, b-plus is responsible for equipping the automated bus with additional sensors and measurement technology, for evaluating the vehicle environment using AI-based perception algorithms, as well as for the virtual simulation of scenarios to optimize traffic and visitor management to optimize traffic and visitor management.
