Stepping Ahead with Electrified, Connected and Automated Shuttles in the Test Area Autonomous Driving BW

Sven Ochs, Daniel Grimm, Jens Doll, Marc Heinrich, Stefan Orf, Tobias Fleck, Dennis Nienhüser, Miriam Nienhüser, Artur Koch, Thomas Schamm, Ralf Kohlhaas, Steffen Knoop, Peter Biber, Dirk Fratzke, Jakob Kammerer, Ravi Shekhar Jethani, Christian Dewein, Florian Kuhnt, Philip Schörner, Marc René Zofka et al. (2 additional authors not shown)

Abstract: Traditional automated shuttle buses plan their trajectories along a fixed path known as virtual rail. Avoiding obstacles on the road, e.g., parked vehicles, imposes challenges on such systems and requires a safety operator to be an active part of the Highly Automated Driving Function (HAD) to maneuver the shuttle around obstacles. In the context of the "EVA Shuttle" project (EVA) we present our developed HAD that is breaking free from the virtual rail. Due to this and the absence of a steering wheel inside the shuttle, a new safety concept had to be developed. We evaluated our approach in the form of a public transport service that bridged the first and last mile using our shuttles in a suburban district in Karlsruhe, Germany.