Advancing automated public transport

The future of public transport is increasingly leaning towards automation, addressing issues such as driver shortages, road safety, congestion, and carbon emissions. However, successful deployment requires seamless interaction between automated buses and other road users, such as cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians. The Human Machine Interaction for Automated Public Transport Buses (Inter Act) project, led by DAM Shuttles in conjunction with partners ADASTEC,  Applied Autonomy, and Vy Buss, seeks to enhance communication between self-driving buses and pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. Building on insights from the previously EIT Urban Mobility co-funded project Living LAPT, which focused on small autonomous shuttles, Inter Act pivots towards full-size, full-speed automated electric buses. These vehicles offer higher capacity and are further along in the development towards driving without a safety driver onboard, thus bringing public transport closer to a driverless future. In Inter Act, the project will develop and test external human-machine interfaces (e HMI) that enable safe and intuitive interactions between automated buses and their environment. Pilots in the real-world environments of Stavanger, Norway and Rotterdam, Netherlands, will see the project integrate the e HMI solution into fully automated buses. The missing puzzle piece? Human-machine communication!While automation in public transport promises efficiency and sustainability, a significant...