Project demonstration for the BMVI

01.09.2021 | Shuttles&Co Project demo for BMVI

After a good 2 months of operation of the shuttles in the test field, we conducted a first project demonstration for the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure together with the DLR project management agency.

After a welcome on the premises of the volunteer fire department Tegel in Schlieperstraße by the Berlin Senate for Environment, Transport and Climate Protection represented by Melanie Jachtner as the project leader, the shuttle and its technology were presented by the manufacturer EasyMile and our partner BVG. Of course, the visitors were also able to experience the shuttles in operation and hear about the first experiences of the ride attendants.

Furthermore, the vehicles (experimental vehicles/technology carriers) of IAV and FU Berlin were also present. These vehicles were used to demonstrate V2X communication features of Cooperative Perception Messages (CPM) A vehicle from the Dahlem Center for Machine Learning and Robotics at the FU Berlin sent identified objects and their position information from a trip around the fire station site to IAV’s vehicle, which was parked in the lightweight hall. It was impressively demonstrated how the IAV vehicle was able to “see around the corner” for around 200 m thanks to the information provided by the FU vehicle.

Another demonstration in the test field was done by Fraunhofer FOKUS, who implemented their environment detection and object recognition without special sensors on a mobile device such as a smartphone. This creates a solution that can collect a lot of data in fleet vehicles of e.g. delivery services or bus lines on the side. At present, development is focused on road infrastructure objects in order to inform the municipal administration of deviations in the digital map after further processing in a change detection process and thus ensure that the data is always up to date.

At two other locations in the test field, the Center for Society and Technology at the Technical University of Berlin (ZTG) presented initial results on acceptance research. The ZTG reported on the focus group events, through which the (potential) affectedness and the (potential) added value of the AVF buses for different groups were explored, as well as expectations of local residents were identified. But there were also initial results for the usability tests in which, among other things, research hypotheses on trust/security, sense of comfort and sense of control were examined. The usability tests are based on interviews before and after the ride, recording of eye tracking and bio-feedback during the ride, and video observations. Basically, most subjects felt safe and enjoyed “relaxed” driving.

Last but not least, the citizens’ report on autonomous and connected driving, which has already been published here in the logbook, was presented to the representatives of the BMVI and handed over in printed form.

After more than 2 hours of presentations and intensive exchange of opinions the project demonstration was finished at Brunowplatz. Thank you for your participation!