In March 2017, CeBIT visitors in Hannover can experience first-hand what has already in the pilot phase for several months now in Switzerland, in a European-wide pioneer project for public transportation: They can take a ride in a self-driving shuttle. The national postal agency Swiss Post is bringing its “SmartShuttle” system to CeBIT – two automatically guided vehicles which will carry tradeshow visitors from the West 1 entrance gate through Hall 13 and into Hall 12.
Each bus has seating for 11 passengers, with a top speed of 20 km per hour. They are equipped with cameras and sensors which can recognize obstacles as well as people and objects in their path, thus allowing for automatic braking of the vehicles. The vehicles also have two emergency stop buttons and a camera. A service worker will accompany each of the two self-driving shuttles, helping people get on and off and also intervening manually to stop the vehicles in case of an emergency.
Swiss Post launched its pilot test of the two self-driving vehicles in June 2016 in downtown Sion in the Swiss canton of Valais. The buses travel a fixed circuit of 1,500 meters there, stopping at several points along the way. At one of the stops there is a screen on which the position of both vehicles is shown in real time. The passengers can also use an app to locate the position of the two shuttles. Since launching test operations the two “SmartShuttles” have traveled a total of 2,500 kilometers and transported more than 14,000 passengers. The test phase lasts until October 2017.
A video on the pilot phase of the “SmartShuttles” is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xp7RoDj6nY .
At the CeBIT Preview event in Hannover, Germany, on Wednesday, 25 January, journalists can find out the latest information on the SmartShuttles at the PostAuto Switzerland info booth.
