Autonomous bus service starts operating in Burgdorf near Hanover

In Burgdorf in the Hanover region, the first fully autonomous large-format bus will start transporting passengers in regular road traffic on Monday. According to Hanover's public transport operator Üstra, it will make three journeys on the premiere day, with six more scheduled for Wednesday and Friday. The ride is free of charge, but "for legal reasons" a one-off registration is mandatory.

The "Albus" is also only open to adults and will initially only make three stops before turning around at a traffic circle and returning to the city's train station. According to Üstra, however, there are already plans to extend the route to a total of six kilometers through Burgdorf.

Various "urban challenges"

The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) granted the US company responsible, Adastec, approval for test operation at the beginning of June. This is the first time that an electric bus for more than 20 passengers in accordance with SAE Level 4 has been allowed to drive on public roads in Germany under real traffic conditions. When it is on the final test route, it travels at up to 40 km/h - it serves 11 stops, crosses ten traffic light intersections, and handles "urban challenges" such as traffic circles and crosswalks completely autonomously, writes Üstra. Safety personnel will always be present. Passengers are asked to provide feedback in an online survey.

SAE Level 4 stands for fully automated driving, which is the second-highest level of automation: in defined scenarios and environments, the vehicle can perform driving tasks without a person behind the wheel having to be ready to take over. The Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) now more or less refers to this as autonomous driving. Even sleeping at the wheel of a car could be permitted under special circumstances, as control is transferred to the system. In Europe, the level 3 systems from BMW and Mercedes-Benz are currently considered to be leading the way. Under certain and defined conditions, drivers are allowed to relinquish their attention completely.

In the trial operation in Burgdorf, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, electric buses of the"Autonomous e-ATAK" model from the Turkish manufacturer Karsan are being used. Operation is now independent of the regular service, but is based on an existing route. The departure times for the coming week will be announced every Friday at Burgdorf station, but deviations or cancellations are possible at any time. Trial operation is planned until the end of the year, after which the vehicle will be returned to the manufacturer. According to the transport company, it has budgeted for the procurement of up to three of its own buses, but none are yet available for unrestricted use in local public transport.

(mho)