A public transportation service using autonomous vehicles (AVs) sees Sage Automation partner with French autonomous technology and smart mobility solutions provider EasyMile in an Australian autonomous vehicle (AV) trial.
EasyMile, along with the South Australian Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) and The City of Playford council will deliver real-world first-mile last-mile transport services to the council’s residents.
Phase one now underway has the EZ10 autonomous shuttle, named ‘Playford Connect’, ferry passengers from the Lyell McEwin Hospital to the Holden car park 1.2km away.
“The trial is being conducted on a public road, with interactions between the bus and the local traffic, parked cars, cyclists and pedestrians,” EasyMile Australia head Greg Giraud says.
“This will help us assess how the City of Playford’s passengers experience and respond to driverless technology. This is an ideal location to demonstrate the potential of this very innovative technology.”
Sage Automation’s national transport manager Damian Hewitt says the trial is a prime example of a first-mile last-mile service that will have a positive impact on the community.
“The services will increase the public’s access to key amenities such as the Lyell McEwin Hospital and will expose the public to these new services,” he says.
Sage was awarded the contract as the “trial operator” and will work primarily on increasing AV ridership through smart connective technologies.
“We can help increase ridership by encouraging people to use the service from the free parking space instead of having to use the congested paid car parking closest to the hospital,” Hewitt says.
A key component of the operator role will be to deliver essential monitoring and operations of the autonomous vehicle, connected infrastructure and passenger experience through Sage’s National Operation Centre based at Tonsley.
“The same monitoring and operational support has been successfully used in the Holdfast Bay trial, which is an example of what a fully connected, accessible Smart Transit Hub solution looks like,” Hewitt explains.
The Holdfast Bay trial from January to July 2019 involves Adelaide residents and visitors riding for free at Glenelg.
That trial, which includes two smart Matilda hubs (bus stops) 900-metres apart at Holdfast Bay and an Olli AV shuttle, demonstrates first-mile and last-mile transportation by allowing people to take the tram to Glenelg then board Olli or vice versa.
Each hub allows people to book a free ride, see how far away a shuttle is and find out about the area while also showing how driverless technologies can share public space with pedestrians and cyclists.
The Olli buses, designed by American AV company Local Motors and the first to be laser-printed, are used in trials and projects world-wide.
New battery technology and quick charging between Matilda and the shuttles feature in the Glenelg trial.
