Posts tagged automated vehicles
Self driving solutions and public transport
The development of self-driving solutions is growing exponentially. Major industries are developing vehicles, sensors and mapping systems that help to achieve the goal of driverless mobility. How can we prepare the city for these self-driving solutions? And in what ways can a city benefit from these solutions? What are the possibilities and challenges of the realization of the self-driving car as a last-mile option in Amsterdam?
Part of the discussion was on the (new) role of public transport: will it dissapear completely of will business remain as usual? Major question is what do we want to achieve in our cities and what means do we have to get to that point? We should look at the strengths of all modes and find the optimal mix. Stop to stop mass transport is the stregth of public transport, the bike plays a major role in short distances and access to these stops. So the first potential role for automated vehicles might be in egress transport?
See the presentations and discussion HERE
Opportunities and challenges for automated vehicles (individual, public and freight transport)
Since several years many developments regarding self-driving, automated vehicles (AVs) take place. Within the coming years it is expected that automated vehicles are becoming part of our transportation system. Therefore it’s becoming more and more important for policy makers to get insights into the state-of-the-art developments around AVs, in order to foster applications of AVs which are promising from a societal point of view and to take these developments into consideration during the decision-making process.
Definition and function of automation
Automation in this study refers to the transport system including all of its components, such as vehicles, drivers, users, infrastructure, information systems and applications. The level in which the driver is still ‘in the loop’ is used in order to discriminate between the different levels of vehicle automation: driver assistance (level 1), partial automation (level 2), conditional automation (level 3) and high/full automation (level 4).
In this study, our aim is to analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to different applications of automation for autonomous private vehicles, freight transport and handling, and public transport. The potential of different applications of AVs in the Zuidvleugel in this study is strictly considered from a societal perspective (demand driven), in which AVs have a societal contribution to answer challenges the Zuidvleugel will face the upcoming years. Each application of automation is analyzed based on its functional ability to contribute to more agglomeration power of the Randstad Zuidvleugel, which in turn can improve the position of the Randstad Zuidvleugel relative to other European metropolitan areas.
Conclusions
We can conclude that a variety of (developments of) applications of automation exist in the Netherlands and worldwide regarding autonomous vehicles, freight and public transportation. We see several opportunities for the Zuidvleugel to benefit from these developments. Some of them are relevant for the short term (4 years), whereas other developments need more time to may be applied.
Read more: Essay TU Delft and Presentation workshop automated vehicles