NEWSLETTER CITIES DEMONSTRATING AUTOMATED ROAD PASSENGER TRANSPORT

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1 NEWSLETTER CITIES DEMONSTRATING AUTOMATED ROAD PASSENGER TRANSPORT Nº5, September 2015 Editorial Dear reader, Welcome to the fifth issue of the City- Mobil2 newsletter. Spring and summer 2015 have been an exciting time for the CityMobil2 project. The first two large demonstrations, in the citycentre of La Rochelle (France) and on a university campus in West Lausanne (Switzerland), have been successfully completed and initial conclusions can already be drawn. Additionally, a smallscale demonstration took place in Vantaa (Finland) over the summer whereby automated vehicles transported passengers from the railway station to a major housing fair. And there is more to come in the near future with the next large-scale demonstration on the streets of Trikala (Greece) starting this autumn and the showcase at the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux (France) on 5-9 October. In parallel to these activities across Europe, CityMobil2 partners are still investigating related fields; in this newsletter, you will read about the first results of the study on socio-economic impacts of automated mobility as well as an update on road user interaction and legal aspects. A new CityMobil2 associate partner, the insurance group Zurich has been included in the consortium which, I hope will help in having a better understanding of these topics. Finally, at the international level, City- Mobil2 remains a European reference. CityMobil2 project partners hosted the Trilateral Automation Working Group (EU, US and Japan) meeting in La Rochelle last March and took part in an EU-US symposium on road vehicle automation in Washington DC in April, coorganised by the European Commission and the US DoT. I wish you a pleasant read. Patrick Mercier-Handisyde CityMobil2 Project Officer DG Research & Innovation European Commission Interview with André Schneider, EPFL Vice-President (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) Q: After five months of demonstration of driverless shuttles on your campus, what are your first conclusions? First, security was at the centre of our concerns, both inside and outside the vehicles. From this point of view, we have fully met the objectives with no accidents to report. Credit for this success goes to the manufacturer (Easymile) which has implemented software and robust procedures, to an organised and responsive operator (Bestmile) and to the grooms on board who were qualified and attentive students, able to prevent accidents, in emergency situations. Q: You introduced, for the first time, an app to call the automated shuttles. Tell us how it went? From mid-july to the end of the demonstration in late August, a smartphone application allowed passengers to call shuttles and assign routes. Thanks to the software, we were able to see in real time the vehicles path and thus visualise the waiting time. This world premiere worked perfectly thanks to the fleet management system developed by the operator Bestmile. For a majority of students and scientists, operating the system with an app is the most convenient and relevant solution for a driverless public transport service. Q: How many passengers used the shuttles? How did students react to this initiative? Almost 7,000 passengers boarded the shuttles on the campus during the five-month demonstration. Given that the summer holiday fell during the test period, this is a good result. Most of the passengers answered the questions posed by the investigators either on board or later via questionnaires sent by . The results of the survey were then delivered to the CityMobil2 evaluators who will provide an analysis of public acceptability of such vehicles in the coming months. However, on the campus, where numerous early adopters of new technologies live, we can already conclude that students are great supporters of the service. Q: What were the most important problems to solve? The first issue has been to obtain the legal authorisation to test driverless vehicles on the roads. Beyond this initial challenge, everyday problems mainly consisted in preventing other vehicles from impeding the shuttles itinerary. Ongoing construction works, campus deliveries and irregular parking required particular attention and regular interventions from Bestmile staff. In addition, because of this summer s heat wave, we faced issues with air-conditioning inside the vehicles; this had an impact on the operational autonomy of the shuttles. The heat wave also made the roads dusty, which hindered the lasers perception. (more information in the article on p.3) Q: How do you see the future of this transport system? The demonstration on our campus and on other CityMobil2 sites showed that the laser technology applied to driverless vehicles is mature and reliable enough. The robustness of the IT supervision system has also been demonstrated. The acceptance of the passengers is almost complete too. So it seems that everything is ready to replicate this experience in other cities or campuses. This will also be the case by the end of the year in a city in western Switzerland, with the support of EPFL. 1

2 La Rochelle demonstration: conclusions THE FIRST CITYMOBIL2 LARGE-SCALE DEMONSTRATION TOOK PLACE BE- TWEEN DECEMBER 2014 AND APRIL 2015 IN LA ROCHELLE (FRANCE). LOCAL PARTNERS CAN NOW DRAW SOME FIRST LESSONS FROM THIS TEST OF AUTOMATED SHUTTLES IN THE CENTRE OF THE CITY. THE REVIEW IS QUITE POSITIVE WITH NEARLY 15,000 PASSENGERS IN FOUR MONTHS OF OPERATION. After months of consultation with stakeholders, preparation of the route, active dialogue with the state authorities to obtain an authorisation to circulate and tests of the Robosoft vehicles on the ground, on 17 December 2014, La Rochelle launched the operation of the automated road transport demonstration on its public roads. Emphasis was placed on public acceptance and on the interaction of the ARTS with other road users in the public space. First achievement: we did it! This premiere in a complex urban environment went well, both in terms of safety and to some extent in terms of mobility service. However, the demonstration could not fully be implemented as planned. The itinerary had to be modified, leaving the train station out of the route for technical reasons, and the organisers had to take the process step by step. This approach was wise and in the end benefited the demonstration. It proved indeed to be useful to solve the technical difficulties on time and the final itinerary turned out to be less disruptive for external drivers and useful for local inhabitants who for seventy of them - used the shuttles on a regular basis. Despite some negative aspects such as the lack of a supervision system, technical issues on the vehicles and poor accessibility for disabled people, the test has been a success and paradoxically thanks to the presence of human beings! Indeed, the operators the persons on-board to take control of the situation in case of technical failure of the vehicles - welcomed the passengers, provided them with explanations and answered their questions. Their presence reassured the passengers. Finally, in putting safety at the core of the demonstration, La Rochelle achieved its objective and recorded no accident. Besides the testing of automated vehicles, a large-scale demonstration is also an opportunity for communication and awareness-raising. La Rochelle local authorities are very satisfied with the activities they implemented and the acceptance showed by the inhabitants. La Rochelle led large and inclusive communication campaigns, both before and during the demonstration, liaising with road users, shopkeepers, police authorities and a wider audience. Children were specifically targeted. Workshops took place in 10 schools of the La Rochelle Urban Community and a special issue of Le Petit Quotidien (a newspaper dedicated to children aged 6-10) was distributed to all school pupils of the conurbation (more than 10,000). Several months after the implementation, the demonstration showed the possibility to integrate automated public transport vehicles in an urban environment. The demonstration also ensured a good level of awareness-raising on-site and provides an excellent case to learn lessons and make technical and process-related further improvements. La Rochelle paved the way for the implementation of other demonstrations in cities. Indeed - notably thanks to the constructive dialogue between the state authorities and the local partners and the results obtained in La Rochelle - we believe that the implementation of new ARTS demonstrations in France will be facilitated. 2

3 Lausanne demonstration: conclusions THE DEMONSTRATION OF DRIVER- LESS VEHICLES ON THE CAMPUS OF EPFL (ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE, SWIT- ZERLAND) CAME TO AN END IN LATE AUGUST WITH A PARTICU- LARLY POSITIVE EVALUATION: NO ACCIDENT TO RECORD AND A TRUE INTEREST IN THE INITIATIVE WITH ALMOST 7,000 PASSENGERS DE- SPITE THE SUMMER HOLIDAY SEA- SON ON THE CAMPUS. The demonstration started particularly well with the official inauguration on 17 April by the Swiss Federal President Ms. Simonetta Sommaruga and by the French President, Mr. François Hollande during his official visit to Switzerland. Four shuttles served six stops on a 1.5 km itinerary, from 7.45am to pm, from Monday to Friday, and linking the traditional public transport axis, on the Southern and Northern edges of the campus. Thanks to the collaboration between the manufacturer Easymile, the operator Bestmile and the grooms (students) within the vehicles to welcome the general public, the demonstration provided a quality service to the passengers. The main obstacles were mostly due to external factors such as badly-parked vehicles, delivery and construction activities as well as the meteorological conditions. One of the impacts of the construction activities has been the definitive interruption of a part of the shuttles itinerary, at the end of the demonstration. The heat wave during summer caused major challenges too as it required permanent air-conditioning within the shuttles. Consequently, this impacted on the autonomy of the electric batteries of the vehicles and ultimately lowered their operational autonomy. Additionally, high temperatures and dry weather made the road dusty which created problems for the perception of obstacles by lasers located on the vehicles bumpers. During the demonstration, great progress in terms of monitoring have been achieved thanks to Bestmile which successfully implemented a remote fleet management system. Through this system, it is now possible to monitor the entire fleet from a central position and to give clear instructions to every shuttle of the fleet, about their speed, their itinerary, etc. This fleet management software made possible the implementation of an on-request app in July and August. Passengers were indeed able to call a shuttle with their smartphone and define their own destination. This has been a successful implementation with approximately 1,000 people using the mobile app. The whole CityMobil2 demonstration process has been accompanied by a strong communication and evaluation effort which will now be used for further CityMobil2 activities. Regarding the next steps, several French-speaking Swiss cities have shown interest in the Lausanne demonstration and the fleet management system. A new demonstration in a city-centre of a Swiss city could start before the end of the year, in parallel to numerous international projects. It is now time for the EPFL team to thank all CityMobil2 project partners for their strong support, the companies which took part in the implementation, Easymile and Bestmile, and the generous local sponsors: Swiss Federal Office of Energy and Romande Energie. 3

4 Vantaa demonstration AS THE CITYMOBIL2 DEMONSTRATION IN VANTAA (FINLAND) CAME TO AN END IN MID-AUGUST, IT IS TIME FOR AN INITIAL FEEDBACK ON THIS SUC- CESSFUL EXPERIENCE. MANY MEM- BERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC DIS- COVERED AUTOMATED MOBILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF A HOUSING FAIR. The month-long CityMobil2 demonstration started on Friday 10th July 2015 in Vantaa, a city located in the Helsinki metropolitan area, which is home to the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and to more than inhabitants. The Housing Fair 2015, the largest summer event arranged annually in Finland, provided a unique opportunity to test the driverless shuttles as the event attracts a large audience. The EasyMile EZ-10 vehicles transported visitors from Kivistö Railway Station to the exhibition area hosting the Housing Fair Visitors had the opportunity to test one of the four CityMobil2 shuttles for free, to reach the exhibition centre, during the whole duration of the fair (10 July 9 August). The CityMobil2 demonstration, which came to an end on Sunday 9th August, showed the impact of automated mobility for last mile (or first-mile) transportation needs. Vantaa experienced how CityMobil2 shuttles can provide a transport solution on 1 km, to extend the visitor s journey from a major transport axis (train line) to an active place of business and leisure. TRIKALA DEMONSTRATION: PREPARATION The third CityMobil2 large-scale demonstration commenced in Trikala (Greece) in September 2015 and will run until February The preparation of the demonstration took place over summer. Summer has been busy in Trikala with the construction of a dedicated newly-asphalted lane, the installation of a control center and the finalisation of technical details, from traffic lights to the installation of road segregation equipment. The first Robosoft vehicles arrived in the city on June 2015 for the initial tests in order to map the route and for the last preparations. In parallel, the Greek legal framework has been set up to enable the implementation of the demonstration. Using special number plates, the demonstration vehicles will be insured and covered by National Law once in operation. Greece is the first EU country to apply an early stage National Law for automated transportation. Between September and February, six Robosoft driverless vehicles will ride along a 2.5 km itinerary which is integrated in the main city road network including different traffic modes. The buses encountered a great success since the opening weekend of the demonstration on 11th and 12th July. During that weekend alone, more than 1,100 passengers travelled in automated vehicles along the one-kilometre private fenced route to reach either the train station or the housing fair. The attractiveness of the driverless buses lasted for the whole duration of the demonstration; the total number of passengers even exceeded 19,000 over the month. Additionally to the success in numbers, the demonstration also reached its awareness-raising goal. The smooth ride of the vehicles at a moderate pace (12 km/h) showing the efficiency of the driverless technology together with the presence of operators on board responded to both technological and social (job destruction) apprehensions of the visitors. The numerous journalists who came to test the innovative technology helped spread the message. Thanks to this positive experience, the city of Vantaa is already considering integrating similar buses in its transport system, in particular to connect the new train stations of the two newly-built residential and business areas with the wider area. However, before a full implementation of this solution, city authorities and shuttles manufacturers will have to study an issue which did not arise in July and August: minus temperatures and snow. 4

5 Reference Group activities CITY AUTHORITY AND PUBLIC TRANS- PORT REPRESENTATIVES WITH AN INTEREST IN ROAD TRANSPORT AU- TOMATION CAME TOGETHER, WITH CITYMOBIL2 PARTNERS, IN LAUS- ANNE ON 23 JUNE FOR THE THIRD MEETING OF THE CITYMOBIL2 REF- ERENCE GROUP. The meeting took place on the campus of the Lausanne polytechnic, EPFL, which was then hosting a CityMobil2 demo. There was therefore an opportunity for participants to try out the automated vehicles. The meeting attempted to explore further the impact of automation for cities. The agenda provided for a mix of presentations covering: - results from real-life ARTS demonstrations (Lausanne and La Rochelle), - an overview of automation technology (task, functions and prospects), - some insights as to what vehicle automation can mean for cities and what key questions cities should be asking themselves, - the potential impact of shared and automated transport services operating alongside mass public transport in a medium-sized European city, - the potential socio-economic impact of automation on urban mobility While automated systems, similar to those demonstrated in CityMobil2, may not be ready for deployment in the very near future, it is important for city authorities and the public transport sector to gear up for automation in order to identify the challenges as well as the opportunities, and thus to shape the way in which automated vehicles are introduced into cities. Automated driving alone cannot solve traffic congestion and may indeed increase the distances people travel and the total number of kilometers travelled in a city. However, automation in shared/collective transport services (eg, car clubs) do have the potential to reduce car ownership and possibly the overall distance travelled, depending on the collective service configuration (ie, shared or sequential service). Some key questions cities should be addressing are: - To what extent should cities be getting involved in the development of these shared/collective services? - How can the benefits of such services (in terms of freeing up road network capacity and space) be captured and managed? - What type of regulatory environment should be applied to such services, which fall midway between traditional public transport and taxis? - What is likely to happen if city authorities do nothing? The presentations made at the meeting are available for downloading from the Reference Group webpage on CityMobil2 website. FUTURE City Mobil2 ACTIVITIES AFTER A SPRING AND SUMMER RICH IN EVENTS, CITYMOBIL2 STILL HAS PLENTY OF ACTIVI- TIES PLANNED FOR THIS AU- TUMN, INCLUDING A SHOW- CASE, A DEMONSTRATION AND CONFERENCE SESSIONS. After La Rochelle in early 2015, CityMobil2 is making a return to France, further South on the Atlantic coast in Bordeaux for the 22nd ITS World Congress between 5 and 9 October. In parallel to a full week of ITS-related presentations and events, the manufacturer EasyMile will provide on the behalf of CityMobil2 a fleet of 4 vehicles to carry people from the Palais des Congrès to the Hall des expositions. In addition, CityMobil2 coordinator, Adriano Alessandrini will take part in a session on Certification of automated road vehicles for urban public transport where recommendations for handling the certification of automated road transport systems will be presented. It will focus both on operational and infrastructural constraints and requirements. The third CityMobil2 large-scale demonstration (after La Rochelle and Lausanne) started in September in Trikala (Greece). A fleet of six Robosoft automated vehicles will be in operation in Trikala until February (More information p.4) Finally, you have a chance this autumn to meet with us at Busworld Kortrijk (in Belgium) on 19 October CityMobil2 partner Polis has been invited to organise a session on automation in the passenger transport environment. The session will draw primarily on the City- Mobil2 project although it also reaches out to other passenger transport automation initiatives/plans outside the CityMobil2 project. 5

6 Socio-economic impacts of automated mobility WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE CITYMOBIL2 PROJECT, A STUDY ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF AUTOMATED MOBILITY IS BEING CAR- RIED OUT AND WILL BE PUBLISHED IN THE AUTUMN OF THE PO- TENTIAL IMPACTS OF AUTOMATION ON THE ECONOMY, TRANSPORT, THE ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY ARE EVALUATED. In the socio-economic impacts workshop, held during a CityMobil2 event in La Rochelle on 30 and 31 March 2015, more than 100 experts from Europe, the US, Japan and Singapore were invited to discuss the expected long-term impacts of road vehicle automation. Preliminary analyses and activities were performed beforehand, including an online DELPHI survey and a qualitative evaluation of the socio-economic impacts of driverless urban transport scenarios. The aim of the online survey was to evaluate 8 options of urban transport automation, contrasting 2 extreme scenarios (automated private car ownership vs. shared self-driving vehicles) in four different urban typologies: urban sprawl, small-medium compact cities, connected cities (city networks or polycentric regions) and rural and/or touristic areas. 89 participants took part in the survey with different response rates according to the scenarios and urban typologies. In a nutshell, the most frequent answers have been more conservative than some impact assumptions presented in the online questionnaire. The majority of respondents thinks that urban transport automation will cause the key variables to change within the range 10%-30% at most in one direction or the other. In their opinion, automated vehicles are only one of many factors that will affect transport demands and costs in the next few decades, and not necessarily the most important. For each graphic, urban sprawl (top-left), city network (top-right), rural or touristic area (bottom-left) and small compact cities (bottom-right) are considered. THE KEY RESULTS ARE AS FOLLOW: Daily trips per capita are expected to increase in the urban sprawl and rural areas settings. In the more compact forms city network and small compact city daily trips are expected to increase only in the shared self-driving vehicles scenario. The average journey distance is expected to increase in the private automated scenarios for all urban forms, except in the small compact city. On the contrary, the average journey distance is not expected to increase in all shared self-driving scenarios, except in the city network. The occupancy rate is expected to decrease in the urban sprawl context but is not expected to significantly change in other urban contexts (small compact cities, rural/tourist areas), with the exception of the car-fleet scenario in the city network, where an increased occupancy rate is expected. According to the majority of respondents, car ownership will not be substantially affected by the private automation scenario whatever the urban form. On the contrary, it is obviously likely to decrease in the shared self-driving vehicles scenarios, but the latter not in the rural area context, where the car will remain a key asset to hold. Finally, as regards the expected changes in modal share, private car use is expected to increase for all urban contexts in the private automated scenario. The only exception is in the rural area context, where the majority of respondents think private car use will remain the same. A reduction of the public transport share will arise as a result of the increase in private car use, while most of the respondents think that the walking and cycling share will remain stable. More detailed results will soon be available on the CityMobil2 website. Please feel free to comment, we value your opinions! 6

7 Legal aspects update Welcome to Zurich! LEGAL ASPECTS ARE AN IMPORTANT AREA FOR INVESTIGATION WITHIN CITYMOBIL2 IN VIEW OF CREATING SOLUTIONS FOR SETTING UP A LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF AUTOMATED VEHICLES IN EURO- PEAN CITIES. CityMobil2 s legal activities have mainly been based on consultating the competent bodies in cities and on consolidating the findings at European level. This has involved defining a legal framework to accommodate the demonstration cities within CityMobil2 and checking the compliance of automated vehicle specifications against legal constraints in order to propose a certification process in line ROAD USER INTERACTION CITYMOBIL2 PARTNERS, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS AND DLR (GERMAN AERO- SPACE CENTRE), HAVE CONTINUED THEIR WORK ON UNDERSTANDING HOW ROAD USERS INTERACT WITH AND PERCEIVE AUTOMATED ROAD TRANSPORT SYSTEMS. Following a series of one-to-one interviews conducted with a cross-section with the experience gained during the compliance test. This provided a first legal framework proposal based on a concrete validation process describing the compliance tests and certification process to be performed. This framework is now under validation and a preliminary study will be provided in early In parallel to legal aspect activities, City- Mobil2 coordinator Adriano Alessandrini gave a presentation at The Legal Issue Automation WG Meeting on Regulatory Needs for Vehicle and Road Automation, held in Brussels in March 2015 where he illustrated the principle of the CityMobil2 certification process: Consider not only the vehicle but also the infrastructure and the control system in the certification procedure based on the rail technical standard EN50126 Divide the infrastructure in sections which, together with the designed systems and the other users, become use-cases Perform a risk assessment, on each use-case, to verify that the proposed system minimises risks and eventually implement infrastructural, technological or control counter measures Each certified use-case can be replicated everywhere without the need for re-certification which decreases certification burden of road users in the UK and Germany, the team developed a questionnaire to gauge what aspects of the vehicle s movements and intentions are important for road users, and how this might be influenced by the presence of road markings. The team also investigated how social influences, the effort required to learn and use a system, as well as aspects of the automated road transport system s performance might influence their actual intention to use it. Together with La Rochelle Urban Community and EIGSI (Ecole d Ingénieurs en THE INSURANCE COMPANY ZURICH RECENTLY JOINED THE CITYMOBIL2 CONSORTIUM AS AN ASSOCIATE PARTNER. THE INSURANCE GROUP SEES AU- TOMATION AS AN OPPORTU- NITY TO DEVELOP NEW CUS- TOMER PROPOSITIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS THAT BETTER MEET CUSTOMERS NEEDS. Zurich cares deeply about developments in motor technology that might affect the risks and is dedicated to helping stakeholders manage these risks. Consequently the insurer is very interested in the potential for driverless vehicles and related technologies that make road usage safer for everyone. Zurich is actively engaged with the motor industry and with regulators to help ensure that everyone benefits as these technologies develop further. Insurers will play a critical role in ensuring the success of automation which have the potential to increase vehicle safety and change the basis of insurance from individual liability to product/vehicle designer liability. Génie des Systémes Industriels) in La Rochelle, and EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and BestMile in Lausanne, the team administered questionnaires to pedestrians and cyclists. With these first large-scale demonstrations, the team captured perceptions of users who had physically interacted with the vehicles, providing a unique insight into what aspects of the design and implementation of an automated road transport system are important to this group within a mixed urban environment. A user survey will be conducted with the inhabitants of Trikala, Greece. 7

8 CityMobil2 partners Relevant EVENTS Demonstration site candidates and local partners ITS World Congress, 5-9 October 2015, Bordeaux France, www. itsworldcongress.com CityMobil2 session at Busworld Academy, 1621 October 2015, Kortrijk Belgium, academy.busworld.org/ ON EARTH imobility Forum Plenary meeting, 21 October 2015, Diamant Centre, Brussels Belgium, eu Podcar City Conference - Silicon Transportation!, 4-6 November, Mountain View, California USA, SiliconValley/ CERN Graphic Charter: use of the outline version of the CERN logo Colour reproduction The badge version must only be reproduced on a plain white background using the correct blue: Pantone: 286 CMYK: RGB: Web: #3861AA Clear space A clear space must be respected around the logo: other graphical or text elements must be no closer than 25% of the logo s width. Minimum size Print: 10mm Web: 60px Placement on a document Use of the logo at top-left or top-centre of a document is reserved for official use. Where colour reproduction is not faithful, or the background is not plain white, the logo should be reproduced in black or white whichever provides the greatest contrast. The outline version of the logo may be reproduced in another colour in instances of single-colour print. Automated transport system suppliers This is an output file created in Illustrator CS3 mobility solutions Driverless Technology Conference and Exhibition 2015, 23 November 2015, ILEC Conference Centre, London UK, www. driverlesstechevent.com For further information: or citymobil2@ctl.uniroma1.it CityMobil2 coordinator Adriano Alessandrini CTL - Centro di ricerca per il Trasporto e la Logistica Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza Via Eudossiana, 18 I Roma 8 The sole responsibility for the content of this newsletter lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.