The autonomous driving Mission bus, which was developed as part of the Dutch-German Interreg project Interregional Automated Transport (I-AT), will be extensively tested in the coming weeks at the Aldenhoven Testing Center at the University of Aachen. In I-AT, 21 partners from SMEs, educational and research institutions, large companies, public transport managers and companies and government institutions from the Dutch-German border area work together.
The 'Mission' is an electric shuttle bus, which can accommodate 12 passengers. The vehicle can drive autonomously on fixed routes using GPS, cameras, lidar and other measuring systems, but if desired, the bus on public roads can also simply be driven by a driver. The Mission is the first automatic shuttle bus to be equipped with a 'dual mode control'. The expectation is that in the coming years there will still have to be a driver in the vehicle when driving automatically in mixed traffic.
The Mission bus was developed by partners of the I-AT Project in the work package responsible for vehicle development. The Mission is the successor to the WEpods, two self-driving shuttles, which have driven in various pilot projects in the Netherlands (including Food Valley in Ede and Wageningen) and Germany in recent years. The Mission bus was built by Urban Mobility Systems BV in Oss. The base of the bus is formed by the chassis of a Fiat Ducato, on which UMS has built a light body of polyester sandwich panels. The bus has an electric drive with a battery pack.
The Mission is a real 'Dual mode bus'. This means that the vehicle can drive autonomously on fixed, predefined routes, but can also be driven in the traditional way by a driver on public roads. As a result, compared to other self-propelled shuttles, the bus offers much more flexibility and better employability for various applications. The bus has a license plate and can therefore be driven manually on a public road by a driver. To be able to drive autonomously, special permits for specific routes are of course necessary and the bus still has to undergo a number of tests and tests.
For autonomous driving, the bus is equipped with sensor systems and computer technology by Jonker Makis Robotics. The bus features a GNSS positioning system using advanced satellite soundings in conjunction with wheel revolution, steering angle and accelerometer calculations. Cameras are also used with which the bus can follow lines on the road. The bus is also equipped with Lidar and radar systems to detect and react to objects around the bus. With the help of these systems, the bus should eventually be able to drive autonomously on the road at a speed of thirty kilometers per hour.
In mid-March, governments, public transport companies, fleet owners and R&D companies are invited to attend demonstrations of the Mission, so that they can get an impression of the new dual mode vehicle concept.
The Mission presentation is the final phase of I-AT Project, which will be completed in June. After project closure, the technology and knowledge contained in it I-AT project, made available to non-commercial companies and organizations interested in autonomous driving technology.
