Digibus, Willischwandt

This pilot, operated by Fluidtime, is testing an electric shuttle on a fixed route which has two station based stops. The shuttle follows a schedule and encounters mixed traffic on public streets along its route. The pilot is hoping on transporting a total of 60,000 passengers by the end of the trial. The shuttle is not wheelchair accessible.

The first aim of this initiative is to find out how automated vehicles can be integrated into regional mobility systems (e.g. passenger information, connection with other means of transport). The second aim is to find methods for passenger interaction in driverless operations (e.g. communication with a control station).

The budget of the pilot is €4m.

In order to be able to test automated or networked vehicles or their technologies whilst complying with the strictest safety regulations, the BMVIT (Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie) is following two approaches:

• Testing on public roads with a corresponding certificate, as a possibility for testing advanced, automated vehicles/functions.
• Testing in special test environments, in order to carry out extensive test running for research development and validation projects, to make it possible for all participants to learn together.

The legalisation of testing on public roads thus allows the targeted testing of specific scenarios (after authorisation), while test environments are equipped for multiple use. For BMVIT, the environment test is defined by a combination of simulations on non-public routes, in real-time public traffic, and through a test bench.