Research

Self-driving minibuses: route inspection from Ilmenau railway station to TU Ilmenau

Representatives of the TU Ilmenau, the city of Ilmenau, IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH Ilmenau and other partners of the campus bus project walked the planned route of self-driving, electrically powered minibuses on February 3. The scheduled service of two automated minibuses is to start in the summer and connect the Ilmenau train station with the campus of the Ilmenau University of Technology in a shuttle traffic.

EasyMile
EasyMile EZ10, an autonomously driving minibus with electric drive

Starting in the summer of 2022, IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH Ilmenau will for the first time use two automated minibuses from the manufacturer EasyMile, type EZ10 Generation 3, in regular scheduled service between the railway station and the campus of the TU Ilmenau. The Thüringer Innovationszentrum Mobilität (ThIMo), which is based at the TU Ilmenau, is supporting the campus bus project as a hands-on real-life laboratory: Scientists from five disciplines are researching and developing innovative radio and vehicle technologies - in the lab and on the streets of Ilmenau. Communication scientists support the research and analyze the perception and acceptance of autonomous shuttle buses among the population. The pilot project, which is funded by two Thuringian ministries, is a first important step in the development of intelligent, sustainable and user-oriented transportation in the Ilm district.

Final adjustments for smooth operation

During the route inspection, IOV managing director Matthias Höring and Constantin Pitzen from the autoBus office, which has accompanied the project from the beginning, led the 13-member project group two kilometers from the planned starting stop behind the Ilmenau railway station to the final stop on the TU Ilmenau campus.

Together with the civil engineering office, the public order office, the police and fire departments, and the testing company DEKRA, final adjustments to the infrastructure were coordinated that are necessary for the smooth operation of the buses, which are accompanied only by a safety driver. The French company EasyMile, which develops transport solutions for autonomous passenger and freight transport, had sent two representatives from its Berlin office to Ilmenau to inspect the route and the positions and possible extensions of the stops. Robert Haase from EasyMile is convinced of the route:

Connecting the train station with various stations on the university campus is a perfect application scenario for the use of autonomous shuttles and an excellent example of bridging gaps on the so-called first and last mile.

Now that EasyMile has classified the route as fundamentally suitable for autonomous bus traffic and DEKRA has drawn up its route and vehicle appraisal on the basis of the inspection, there is nothing standing in the way of successful approval of the automated minibuses. They will be delivered when the newly constructed road, which connects Neuhäuser Weg and Ehrenbergstraße, is completed. Before the buses are measured on the route by sensors, the last hardware components still have to be integrated and preparations made for the depot with charging facilities located on the ThIMo site.

The city of Ilmenau and the ThIMo are already working with industry partners Funkwerk Systems and Lehmann & Partner on the P:Mover project to plan further sections of the route for the use of even more highly automated buses.

Route between train station and campus

The bus route starts at the Ilmenau railway station on the other side of the railroad tracks in Neuhäuser Weg. At the Nelson Mandela Bridge, it turns into the new Schöffenhausstraße and runs through Ehrenbergstraße, where the first stop will be set up at the level of the Technology and Start-up Center.

The route continues past the Ernst Abbe Center and student dormitories, and the current bus stop is used as a second stop in front of the Ehrenberg refectory. After another stop at the university library, the final stop is reached near the Audimax at Helmholtzplatz.

On the way back, the route leads from Ehrenbergstraße a short distance via Langewiesener Straße back to Neuhäuser Weg in order to avoid turning maneuvers. A possible extension of the route leads from Helmholtzplatz via the street Am Ehrenberg around the Leonardo Da Vinci building and the vocational school center.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Matthias Hein

Director Thüringer Innovationszentrum Mobilität