Centre Bus de Lagny - Intelligent Bus Parking

This demo tested the automation of bus parking procedures in an underground bus depot. Two different situations were tested: the first one is when the driver arrives at the depot. The bus powers up in autonomous mode, exits its parking space in the level 3 basement and approaches the depot exit. The driver begins his or her shift when leaving the depot. The second situation is at the end of the shift. The driver leaves the bus at the depot entrance and with autonomous mode activated, the vehicle parks itself in the spot assigned by the automatic fleet management system after moving to the underground parking spaces. In both cases, a driver was always on board of the bus during tests to supervise the system. This project is part of the European Bus System of the Future 2 (EBSF 2) program launched in 2015.

The aim of this demo was to test the technical feasibility of automated parking in a private environment. When perfected, this technology will be able to:

• Optimise available space in bus depots located in dense urban areas thanks to tighter vehicle parking made possible by automated systems.
• Assist bus drivers’ tasks by means of advanced driving assistance systems and ultimately changing some of their assignment (such as the necessary actions to take buses in and out the garage).

The budget of this demo is less than €2.5m and it is co-financed by the European Union.

A technical challenge encountered was the reliability of the vehicle in the underground depot.

On 30 March 2018, RATP Group, the CEA and IVECO Bus presented a demonstration of a fully autonomous bus garage in the level 3 basement of the Lagny bus depot in Paris. The systems worked well, with very good manoeuvring accuracy in autonomous mode.