Autonomous driving: ZF shows highly automated electric shuttle for mixed traffic

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ZF Friedrichshafen wants to advance autonomous driving with a new generation of shuttles. The automotive supplier demonstrated the electronic robo-shuttle, which will be able to maneuver on predefined routes in mixed traffic without a safety driver, at CES in Las Vegas on Thursday. At the same time, the group unveiled a partner, U.S. mobility services provider Beep, with which it plans to jointly put several thousand of the shuttles on the road in specific areas such as Florida, California and Yellowstone National Park.

ZF has been developing self-driving shuttle buses since acquiring the Dutch company 2getthere in 2019. In 2021, the Friedrichshafen-based company agreed to cooperate with DB Regio in this context. The existing shuttles require lanes that are separated from flowing traffic as far as possible and are on the road at Lake Constance, in Mannheim, at the Rivium business park in Rotterdam, and in Abu Dhabi, among other places. In the summer, there were reports that ZF was planning to divest the division. There is no truth in this, it is now said. However, investors and other partners are being sought.

E-shuttle with extensive sensor technology

The new version is designed for Level 4 with an autonomous mode that enables highly automated locomotion. This means that the vehicle can independently handle all traffic situations under certain conditions, as far as this is also legally permissible. According to ZF, the shuttle is equipped with state-of-the-art sensor technology for this purpose, consisting of lidar, radar, camera and noise detection systems. It is said to guarantee precise environment detection. Torsten Gollewski, who is responsible for autonomous mobility solutions at ZF, spoke of "redundant 360-degree perception" at CES.

The manager described the "Virtual Driver" with a "performance path and a safety path" as the key element of the associated software for automated driving. The control unit processes the data that converges there from the sensors as well as a communication with intelligent traffic infrastructure. According to ZF, the system then uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the best driving path as well as the correct speed and passes these parameters on to the steering and driveline. The steering wheel and brake pedal would thus become superfluous.

Speeds up to 80 km/h

Mobility providers such as Beep are to choose between battery capacities of 50 and 100 kWh and thus be able to cover up to 130 kilometers purely electrically with the corresponding shuttles. According to the manufacturer, the top speed is initially 40 km/h, but could reach up to 80 km/h in future models. With up to 15 seats, the shuttle bus offers space for a total of 22 passengers.

According to Gollewski, such shuttles and the driving technology, which can also be installed in other vehicles, should also make an important contribution to achieving sustainability goals and reducing CO₂ emissions. The current approach to transportation no longer works, he said, because it takes up too much space and destroys the environment. In addition, there are too few drivers in the transport sector.

(fds)