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Friday, 29.03.2024, 14:31
Driverless buses to be tested in Latvian Jelgava and Aizkraukle in 2019
The Sohjoa Baltic project will be
a major step toward popularization of autonomous vehicles and practical tests
to start using autonomous driverless electric buses in public transport.
Taking into consideration that autonomous vehicles is a novelty for the
entire Europe, and that currently such vehicles are used only in closed-off
areas, such as airports or large production facilities, much of the project
will focus on solving legal matters and synchronization with other European
Union member countries. In most countries in Europe at the moment, not all
opportunities offered by driverless vehicles are used, and a human driver has
to be present in such vehicles to take over when necessary. Complex changes
will have to be made to a number of laws and regulations to lay down
responsibilities and traffic organization rules. In Latvia, too, there will be
a human driver in each bus during the initial tests, said Ievins.
Test drives of driverless vehicles will be taking place in Jelgava and
Aizkraukle for several weeks in the spring and summer of 2019. The emphasis
will be on the first/last mile connectivity - transport of passengers, for
instance, from the rail station to the downtown. Autonomous buses will drive
along their routes, scanning the surroundings and knowing when to slow down or
stop completely, if there are obstacles in the way.
The Sohjoa Baltic project's total
budget is EUR 3.8 million, of which EUR 2.8 million has been provided by
Interreg - Baltic Sea Region program. Sohjoa
Baltic consortium has partners from Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Latvia,
Germany, Poland, Norway and Denmark with area and public transportation
planning expertise as well as legal expertise combined with strong technical
understanding which are the requirements for enabling autonomous traffic.