The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering together with the Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies of STU are implementing a pilot project of intelligent smart mobility of the future directly in the means of public transport. They will continue in Žilina.
The first phase of the unique project began on April 9, when the first installations of technological devices took place on the bus of the Bratislava City Transport Company, which operates as line no. 144 on the route from Koliba to Kamzík.
This intelligently equipped bus operated according to the timetable on the mentioned route on April 10 and 11, 2021. The second phase will take place from April 16-18, 2021, when the same data collection will be carried out on tram no. 1 in Bratislava. And what is a smart bus actually used for?
The essence of the data collection technology used is that it can synchronously collect data from the lidar, 7 cameras at a speed of 60 frames per second, vehicle position data with an accuracy of 14 mm and operational data from the vehicle from the CAN bus in the amount of tens of terabytes per day.
Subsequently, the collected data will be analyzed and evaluated from the point of view of static (traffic signs, buildings, urban lighting system, etc.) and dynamic infrastructure (movement of pedestrians, other means of transport, animals). The results will be used for the purpose of developing intelligent smart mobility of the future in cities.
“What we are doing here today is the very first, but necessary step. We create unique datasets that record a real bus line in standard traffic with passengers. This data will allow us to discover what is needed for such a bus line to be able to run in autonomous mode in the future,” explained Marek Galinski, the project’s chief software engineer from FIIT STU.
In the future, this technology could be used, for example, in autonomous buses driving in the premises of Bratislava Volkswagen. “In the future, we are considering starting research, development, implementation and testing in operation on shuttle buses, which could be operated, for example, at Volkswagen Slovakia in a less frequented part of the plant. For now, it’s only in the negotiation stage,” added Professor Ľubomír Šooš, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of STU in Bratislava.
“Together with the STU Faculty of Engineering, researchers from FIIT STU are developing the topic of autonomous transport in the Central European region. We believe that in a few years, thanks to our joint projects, autonomous vehicles will be able to drive in Slovakia. I want to appreciate the work of our researchers and congratulate them on their success,” added Ivan Kotuliak, dean of FIIT STU.
Original article in slovak language: https://auto.pravda.sk/magazin/clanok/584215-po-bratislave-zacal-jazdit-inteligentny-autobus/