PECOP - Key Technology of PErception and Control in COoperative Vehicle-Infrastructure System for Urban Public Transportation

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

Background: The transport sector accounts for approximately a third of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and immediate actions for a change to a sustainable transportation system are mandatory. One of the key issues is the shift from individual mobility with fossil energy powered vehicles to public transport powered by renewable energy sources. However, studies show that people who have the choice in the transport mode, often rely on their own car for reasons of flexibility, habits and age while safety and convenience could be attractions related to public transport. Therefore mobility-on-demand services using smaller electric shuttle buses could close existing gaps in public transport in case this service is safe, flexible and convenient. Goals: The goal of the project is to develop and demonstrate an urban on-demand public transport service with a transportation unit we call PECOP shuttle having a capacity of up about 15 people. It features a battery electric drive-train, driver-less operation and collaborative perception. The bus service is demonstrated in hardware in China and in simulation in Austria. Innovations: Based on a central tactical mission planning, a 24/7 on-demand service is introduced. This tactical planning also allows using breaks for re-charging the battery resulting in a cost-efficient power train configuration, especially w.r.t the size of the battery. To guarantee a safe and convenient operation of the shuttles, the autonomous trajectory planning of the vehicle must be based on reliable, accurate and predictive machine perception. Instead of implementing expensive perception sensor in each unit, we propose to use collaborative perception, based on traffic surveillance and 5G communication. Using the central tactical planning, the trajectory planning module can take into account dynamic traffic changes, environmental conditions and varying payloads. Therefore, the PECOP shuttle can be operated in dynamic traffic at higher speeds as compared to existing concepts. Efficient virtual testing is introduced based on detailed digital twins of the demonstration sites. This allows to fine-tune the trajectory planning algorithm for safety and comfort before the demonstration. Expected results: PECOP aims to implement a demonstrator of the autonomous shuttle service in a dedicated test site in China and to provide a high fidelity virtual test and validation framework that is also demonstrated on a simulated Austrian traffic site in Graz.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/01/2331/12/25

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