Interact

This project, named Human machine interaction for automated public transport buses (InterAct), focuses on driving with automated buses, which are conventional full-sized buses with automated driving technology. These buses have higher capacity and are further in the development towards driving without safety driver onboard.

The project partners have the ambition to make urban spaces more liveable, and to do that by deploying smart, green, safe and inclusive public transport. This consortium has already been testing for several years with automated public transport solutions, such as the autonomous shuttles used in LivingLAPT, and now want to focus on the deployment of the next generation, i.e. automated buses. Accelerating this market innovation to replace existing public transport buses with driver onboard, to automated buses without driver onboard is the goal. Currently, there is one automated bus in operation in Stavanger, Norway since 2022, which is still with a bus driver onboard. One important aspect to have a viable business case is to achieve driving without bus driver onboard, also known as safety driver. An important part of this development is improving the human machine interaction (eHMI) between the bus and other road users, where there is no driver behind the wheel to communicate with.

Currently, an automated bus is driving in Stavanger, Norway and another will launch in Rotterdam in 2025. The consortium will focus on technology that improves external human-machine interaction (eHMI) to take the safety driver out of the vehicle.