The Digibus and the test track in Koppl are the first cornerstones of a test environment for automated, local mobility in Salzburg. The test environment is intended to provide digital and physical test infrastructures in order to test and systematically further develop automated vehicles for public transport purposes in test and real operations. The question is no longer whether the automated mobility will come, but how we design automated mobility in the future in order to provide an efficient, environmentally compatible and affordable mobility system. An open test environment enables shared learning for all parties involved in order to answer open questions about automated mobility in the coming years, thus enabling targeted development and decision making.
Open research questions include:
- Design of the mobility system: How can automated vehicles fit sensibly into existing (public) traffic systems? How should these systems be designed in the future?
- Human-to-machine communication: In everyday traffic, a lot of human-to-human communication happens. This applies for example passenger communication: How does the bus interact with its passengers when there is no driver in the car (and will not be accompanied by a companion in the future)? How does communication with other road users work? How does the bus recognized that it is been given priority by another car user?
- Machine-to-machine communication: How does the bus communicate with other vehicles? How about the communication with infrastructure, such as traffic lights?
- Special traffic situations: How does the bus cope with large gradients and with changing ground conditions (wetness, snow, ice, etc.)? What happens when items that are on the road?
- Social factors: How safe do passengers feel? What measures can increase safety?
For the full configuration of the test environment it is planned to bring other minibuses from other manufacturers to Salzburg. Interested companies, research institutions, public organizations are invited to use the test environment for their own test experiments or research questions. Contact us!
