Learning from the Successful - SCC Replication Workshop (26th Jan 2018 @ INEA, Brussels) - Smart Mobility Roundtable Session: Robotbuses in Helsinki by Metropolia UAS

1. SCC Replication Workshop26th Jan, 2018
Presenter: Milla Åman, Communications
Technical Advisor: Eetu Rutanen, Project Engineer
mySMARTlife & Smarter Mobility Projects
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Electric Public Busses Roundtable Session

2. What is an autonomous vehicle anyways?

3. Please notice – Finnish regulations
• Testing of automated vehicles (SAE levels 0-5) is possible in road
traffic in Finland.
• Finnish legislation does not require and does not mention that the
driver should have hands on the steering wheel or be physically
inside the vehicle during driving.
• While testing automated vehicles on public roads in Finland, the
vehicle must still have a dedicated driver either inside or outside the
vehicle who is responsible for the vehicle and makes decisions on
the movement of the vehicle.
• Despite this, one person can in principle be the driver of more than
one vehicle at the same time

4. A brief history of robotbuses in Helsinki

5. • 2015: Closed-area trials - Citymobil2 Project
• 2016-2017: Real-life traffic conditions – SOHJOA-6aika Project
• short demos (ca 1 month) in Espoo, Helsinki and Tampere
• 2018-2020: automated bus lines as part of public transport services in Helsinki
• Usability and Business Model study for 3 yrs running trial - RobobusLine and
mySMARTLife projects
• By 2020: a fleet of 6-10 robot buses driving on public streets in Helsinki
• Fabulos Project, led by Forum Virium Helsinki.
• 2018-2020: Sohjoa Baltic (Interreg Baltic Sea Programme) takes the short
(1mo) and long (1yr) trials to the cities around Baltic Sea
• Helsinki, Tallinn, Kongsberg, Gdansk, Vejle, Zemgale
• National legislation roadmap under study

6. The Vehicles

7. Robot bus (Navya ARMA)
1. 3D LiDAR
2. 2D LiDAR
3. Odometry
4. Inertial
measuremen
t unit (IMU)
5. Telecommuni
cation
• D-GPS
antenna
• LTE/MIM
O
antenna
• Radio
antenna
2.
1.
3.
4.
5.

8. Navya Bus Details
1 & 2 2D & 3D Lidars have two main functions. Firstly, Lidars are used to locate the
vehicle inside a mapped environment. Secondly, Lidars enable to detect all kind of
obstacles around the vehicle.
3 Odometry adds redundancy to positioning of the shuttle.
4 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) adds redundancy to positioning of the shuttle.
5 Telecommunication antennas (RTK GPS, LTE/MIMO, and Radio) enable the shuttle
to communicate with the supervision center and with the Differential GPS base.

9. Robot bus (Easymile EZ10)
1.
5.

10. EZ10 Bus Details
• Capacity 10-15 passengers
• Reported max speed 25 km/h (in trials made so far in Finland: max 13 km/h)
• Used for short distances 200-2000 m (first/last mile)
• SAE level of automation for on-road vehicles: 3 or 4
• Operates on specific predetermined routes like a tram that follows a virtual track.
Can not overtake obstacles
• No typical control devices (steering wheel, pedals). Manual driving with a joystick,
stopping with a (emergency)button
• Do not understand traffic rules. Intersections can be programmed in advance so
the bus knows when and from what directions vehicles must be avoided.
• Localization (and obstacle detection) is done with optical Light Detection and
Ranging (LiDAR) radars. Clear stationary shapes (buildings etc.) needed next to
the path.
• Vague roadside parking is a problem
• Operator (driver/responsible person) so far always on board to ensure safe
operation

11. Environments and routes

12. Robot bus
Environments where they play nicely
• Low speed area (max
30-40 km/h)
• Clearly marked parking
places
Best option: no roadside
parking on the side of the
lane that the bus is
operating on
• Clear shapes
Landmarks, buildings
• Wide road
On a narrow road, robot
bus can draggle because of
the parked as well as
incoming vehicles

13. Helsinki Hernesaari
Tampere Hervanta
Espoo Otaniemi
Helsinki-Vantaa airport

14. Robot bus
• Environments where robot buses do not work

15. Robot bus Helsinki this Wednesday

16. How to Begin the Journey

17. Getting started – how we did it
• Leased or purchased buses
• route programming carried out by the manufacturer
• technical details of the robot buses were found out
• suitable routes were examined
• Acquiring a test plate certificate from the transport safety agency
• Route proposals introduced to the bus manufacturer
• Traffic arrangements
• Route programming
• The feasibility approved in agreement with
• project implementer
• bus manufacturer
• cities
• traffic safety department
• Practicalities
• Announcements, timetable & passenger information (Twitter account), bus stops
• Operation of the bus free and open for everyone during the trials

18. Getting the Test Plates
• An enterprise, agency or other organisation engaged in research
and development of automated vehicles may apply to Finnish
Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) for a test plate certificate.
• The certificate entitles the bearer to drive test vehicles, to a limited
extent and on a temporary basis, both in road traffic and off-road.

19. In the test plate application must be included the application form itself and as appendices a Trade register
extract from the company’s country of incorporation as well as a trial plan where should be included the following
information:
A General description of the trials
• What, where and when
• How many vehicles
• What time period
• At what time
• Who will be operating
• Driver information
Research plan
• What is being studied
• A description of the final report
Technical specification of the test vehicle
• Basic vehicle information
• Differences to type-approved vehicle
Information of the road area
• Maps of the area
• Is there a need for infrastructure changes
• Has there been discussion with the city
Description of how road safety will be ensured
• How to ensure risk-free operations
• Risk assessment
• How does the vehicle observe the environment
• How to respond to the risks involved
• Data collection and sharing
• privacy policy
• Cyber safety
• Are there any hindrances to the operations (e.g. environment and weather conditions)
• How the drivers (operators) are trained.

20. Traffic Arrangements

21. Some Findings

22. Results from EZ10 trials
By filling in a logbook, information about various causes of incidents were gathered by operators onboard the bus. Depending on the situation,
stopping was done either by the bus itself or manually by the operator.
Problems caused by environment.
Also 94% of the problems
were caused by the environment,
And 6% technical.
In 94% of the cases,
The problems caused
the Bus to stop.

23. Results (EZ10 trials)
Typical causes of emergency stops made by operators:
• Other vehicles coming near the bus unexpectedly.
• Vehicles with high ground clearance and long rear overhang, which the bus can’t
recognize as an obstacle elsewhere than from the tires (risk for collision).
• Traffic lights not working correctly and drivers not respecting the traffic lights
• Encountering of the EZ10 and other vehicles at narrow places.
Typical causes of emergency stops made by the EZ10 (safety chain):
• A vehicle or pedestrian passed the bus too closely
• Conditions (light snowfall, heavy rain, vegetation and flying leaves)
Comfortable (“soft”) stops were typically made (by the operator) when a vehicle was
moving on the route on a narrow part and the operator anticipated that there is not
enough space to confront.
Causes to comfortable stops were also parked vehicles on trajectory when the EZ10 had
to be stopped and the vehicle overtaken manually

24. Business Models

25. Before having a regular service …
*Yes, we have studied that, too.
Operating must be guaranteed:
Anytime
Anywhere
Faster
Under remote control
Also
General attitudes of other road-users
The user experiences of the passengers*

26. Hop on! They already did…

27. Our Current
projects
NAME OF PROJECT NUMBER OF PARTNERS M€UR 30,3
Sohjoa-6AIKA 7 0,5 M€
Robusta 7 1,8 M€
MaaS –
3 0,3 M€
MySmartLife 25 21,5 M€
Helsinki Robobusline 5 0,2 M€
Arctic Challenge 4
Fabulos 3 0,4 M€
Perille Asti 5 1,8 M€
Sohjoa Baltic 12 3,8 M€
Metropolia UAS with
the partners have
been
testing the usage of
eco-friendly
automated electric
minibus
in order to solve
last/first mile public
transport issues
within various
projects over the
past three years.
These last from
2016 to 2020.

28. Funded by

29. Questions, comments?

30. ?
! Milla Åman | +358 50 342 0341 | Milla . Aman @ metropolia . fi