In October, the four-month culture bus pilot project, linking future technology, the public space, and mobility – in which technology companies from three countries participated – was completed in Tartu. The bus, which ran between the Tartu City Museum and the Estonian National Museum, carried a total of almost 2,000 people.
The aim of the project was to develop technologies related to passengers and test the communication link between the self-driving bus and the road infrastructure. During the project, the use of 15 different languages on the bus were detected. With the help of smart sensors, a total of nearly 5,000 warning alerts were sent about cycle and pedestrian track user approaching a self-driving bus at intersections with limited visibility. The most passengers, 66, rode the bus on 23 July. In total, 1902 people travelled on the Culture Bus, and the vehicle covered 3,426 kilometres, 86% of which was done autonomously. Dangerous overtaking by regular road users presented the most challenges for the self-driving bus.
‘Tourists mostly found their way onto the bus at the Estonian National Museum, where the bus conveniently stopped near the museum and stood out with its Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 design. Many foreign guests wanted to buy a ticket when entering the bus and were pleasantly surprised that the riding experience was free. The most memorable trips were those when the bus had speakers of several different languages aboard, with the passengers being pleasantly surprised when the bus began to communicate in the same language and tell different stories about Tartu,’ said Roomer Tarajev, Head of Business Development Department. According to him, the city received important information about how people embrace self-driving vehicles and the various challenges that are presented by the urban space.
The pilot project involved Yazaki Innovations, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Yazaki Group, US technology company Avanti R&D, Auve Tech OÜ, which develops self-driving vehicles in Estonia, and the City of Tartu.
According to Mike Ramirez, Vice President of Avanti R&D, the project managed to pilot and further develop machine learning based audio, communication and computer vision technology in real-world conditions for deployment in self-driving vehicles.
Each project partner also had their own individual expectations and challenges. ‘The Tartu project has been of considerable value to Auve Tech because it allowed us to improve our technology and delve deeper into how autonomous transport can meet the needs of different users. The contributions and solutions of each partner contribute to the acquisition of valuable experience that will guide our future steps in the development and deployment of autonomous transport,’ said Johannes Mossov, member of the board of Auve Tech.
The autonomous eight-seater bus, named the Culture Bus, moved along Roosi Street on a specified trajectory five days a week, from 21 June through 31 October. In November, the project was also presented at the world’s largest smart city fair, Smart City Expo, in Barcelona.
Additional Information: Roomer Tarajev, Sector Manager, Business Development Department, Tartu City Government, Phone: +372 5303 3638.