Opportunities for Autonomous Driving in Public Transport
Road Traffic Remote Control Ordinance comes into force
Research Focus: Intelligent Transportation Systems and Logistics
The driver is not even in the vehicle, but is steering it remotely? This may sound unusual at first, but it offers many opportunities, for example for car sharing, local public transport, or freight transport, as well as for remote-controlled taxis. The “Road Traffic Remote Control Ordinance,” which came into force today, creates the first legal framework for the operation of remote-controlled motor vehicles on public roads. Now, for example, in complex traffic situations, a person at a control center can take control of autonomous vehicles.
At the Test Area Autonomous Driving Baden-Württemberg, our autonomous FZI shuttles are already networked with the TAFBW control center. Our colleagues Martin Gontscharow and Marc Heinrich presented exactly what remote assistance looks like and what the potential of remote operation or so-called teleoperation concepts is today, on the day the StVFernLV came into force, for the Tagesschau news program and the ARD magazine BRISANT.
Building on many years of research experience
As early as 2023, the real-time connection of autonomous vehicles for remote support was demonstrated as part of the completion of the KIGLIS research project. Support for autonomous vehicles by a control center may be necessary in special cases, for example to ensure the constant availability of a vehicle fleet. However, providing adequate support requires the transmission of large amounts of sensor data from the vehicle and, if necessary, from infrastructure sensors. In order to ensure this in a future smart city with many networked units and thus high communication traffic, the FZI researched and developed various methods specifically for autonomous driving in the KIGLIS project, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with a total of 4 million euros. These include AI-based compression methods for LiDAR and camera data. The methods researched were successfully demonstrated on the autonomous driving test field in conjunction with the partners’ network infrastructure. In addition, the FZI researched methods for detecting so-called corner cases, very rare traffic situations that require remote assistance.
Secure legal framework and new opportunities for research contracts
For our research partners and us, the entry into force of the Road Traffic Remote Control Ordinance is a significant intermediate step towards scalable automated mobility, which can help supplement existing services and meet new demands. We can now test new mobility concepts with learning-guided autonomous vehicles in a real-world laboratory, right in the middle of regular traffic.
Feel free to contact us about teleoperation, remote assistance, and remote driving, and take advantage of our expertise.
About the Test Area Autonomous Driving Baden-Württemberg
The Test Area Autonomous Driving Baden-Württemberg is a real-world laboratory for mobility concepts that aims to promote the development of future-oriented solutions for private and public transport. Companies and research institutions can test their technologies and services related to connected and automated driving in everyday traffic conditions, using automated cars, buses, and commercial vehicles such as street sweepers and delivery vehicles.
Unlike other projects in Germany, the test field, which went into operation in May 2018, covers all types of public roads: motorway sections, state and federal roads, inner-city routes with bicycle, pedestrian, and tram traffic, as well as 30 km/h zones, residential areas, and parking garages. The test field routes are located between Karlsruhe, Bruchsal, and Heilbronn.
A particular focus of the Test Area Autonomous Driving Baden-Württemberg is local public transport (ÖPNV). This is because the state of Baden-Württemberg plans to significantly expand rail and bus transport within the state in the coming years as part of a local public transport initiative. The planned measures also include intensive testing of concepts with automated, driverless mobility services.
The design, planning, and expansion of the Test Area Autonomous Driving Baden-Württemberg is being implemented by a consortium consisting of the FZI Research Center for Information Technology, the City of Karlsruhe, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Heilbronn Unviersity of Applied Sciences, the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB, the City of Bruchsal, and other associated partners of the test field. The Karlsruhe Transport Authority operates the test field.
The FZI is the consortium leader and contributes expertise in the perception of road users at intersections, networked infrastructure, and IT data management. In addition, the existing research vehicles are also made available to interested test field users as sensor carriers and research platforms. The FZI staff also examines and takes into account the issue of data protection and the legal framework that has been established.