Bavaria: Self-driving buses from Schweinfurt – Bavaria

From a technical point of view, says Torsten Gollewski, the autonomous shuttle has long been able to drive: at up to 42 kilometers per hour and 22 people on board – without a driver. Controlled with cameras, radars and lidars, a kind of laser; the technology detects traffic lights and obstacles on the route. In addition, an electric drive, the batteries recharge in about a minute at bus stops. You can also show practical experience, says the head of autonomous mobility systems at ZF Friedrichshafen AG, based in Schweinfurt. In Rotterdam, for example, the shuttle is already running. Gollewski would rather have him on Bavarian roads today than tomorrow. In view of the climate crisis, says the engineer, “the range of public transport must be at least doubled anyway”.

So will autonomous buses soon be a natural part of the Bavarian cityscape? Anyway, the interest is there. This Thursday, ZF publicly presented the new shuttle on a test track in Schweinfurt. A ZF spokeswoman says there are already concrete inquiries from six Franconian municipalities that want to relieve their traffic. City councilors from Schweinfurt were there recently. The idea: Intelligently timed e-shuttles, which ideally drive primarily to normal cars, should in the long term drive private cars off the streets, reduce traffic jams and lower emissions. Then, says Gollewski, space could be created for green spaces, the many multi-storey car parks converted into “high quality living space” and some lanes cleared for bicycles. That’s the theory.

There is still a long way to go before practice. ZF also has to carry out a feasibility check before every shuttle operation, calculate costs, sources of danger and connectivity with traffic lights. And ZF is not without competition. A list of the Association of German Transport Companies lists a good two dozen pilot projects for autonomous buses nationwide. One of the best-known is also one of the oldest: a self-driving minibus has been in service for Deutsche Bahn in Bad Birnbach, Lower Bavaria (Rottal-Inn district) since 2017.

Travel companions still have to be on board

Its distance was initially limited to 660 meters. In the meantime it has grown to around two kilometers. The shuttle can carry up to six passengers from the train station to the town center and back. Travel time according to Deutsche Bahn: 18 minutes at a maximum permitted speed of 15 kilometers per hour. The bus follows a programmed route. A human companion is also on board, who can take over the controls if necessary. “Currently, the minibus cannot deviate from the route on its own in order to avoid obstacles such as parked cars,” says a project website.

Operators also have to take part in another pilot project in Bavaria, according to the current legal situation. As part of the Upper Franconia Shuttle Model Region (SMO), six shuttles have been operating in Hof, Kronach and Rehau since the summer – with a positive interim result from the point of view of the project manager from Nuts One. In Hof and Kronach alone, more than 8,000 people were transported, despite restrictions caused by the pandemic, says Matthias Zankl. “That shows that people are interested and are coming along.”

In Hof, the buses are therefore intended as a means of transport for the last mile, from the train station to the city. In Kronach, the offer is aimed at tourists to climb the old town, which is enthroned on a mountain spur. In Rehau, the buses act as works shuttles. A follow-up project should now provide further insights. Among other things, Zankl and his colleague Frank Hunsicker plan to monitor the shuttles centrally from a control center in Hof. In addition, Rehau will be replaced by Bad Steben, “there are many rehabilitation clinics here,” says Hunsicker. The shuttles could therefore transport spa guests or transport clinical material. The whole thing is interesting for the region anyway: At the Lucas-Cranach-Campus in Kronach there is now a master’s degree in autonomous driving.

ZF is working on the next shuttle generation

A test is also underway in Regensburg. Since September, two shuttles have been commuting through the business park under the project name Emilia. Otherwise, the idea can be admired in everyday Bavarian life, especially underground: there have been two self-driving subway lines in Nuremberg since 2008, and at Munich Airport an automated shuttle train transports passengers to a satellite terminal. Subways benefit from the fact that they run in tunnels and are therefore less susceptible to external disruptive factors. When driving on the road, on the other hand, there are constantly new traffic situations.

Ideally, autonomous shuttles will open up rural areas in the future, says ZF traffic expert Torsten Gollewski.

(Photo: Nico Kleemann; ZF Friedrichshafen AG/Nico Kleemann)

Meanwhile, ZF is working on the next generation of shuttles, which should reach speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. This means that rural areas can be better developed, says traffic expert Gollewski. Because Germany is actually in a good legal position, but finds it difficult to use modern technology. “We often get bogged down in small things,” he says. Applications for funding took a long time – and sometimes projects failed because sections of the route did not belong to the railways when they were project partners.

In Schweinfurt, ZF is therefore taking it easy at first. The shuttle will soon be exhibited on the market square, initially just to look at.

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