Ride the future is a mobility solution with three electrified autonomous buses that operate a 4.2 km long loop at Linköping University and Vallastaden. There is a need to summarize the results obtained, to achieve Ride the future’s goal of showing how an autonomous electrified bus can be part of the mobility in the modern dense city. The purpose of this report is to summarize and discuss these with a starting point in what this means for the users and where aspects around vehicles and operation, infrastructure, the users’ perception of attractiveness, accessibility, convenience and inclusion are included.
A compilation of completed user studies shows that the majority of travellers who have tested the buses are positive about the journey, but that efforts are required to attract motorists. Furthermore, an increased focus is needed on the development of how the vehicles should be able to communicate with passengers on the bus, but also with those who interact with the bus outside (pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicle drivers). The driver is important from the point of view of the situation we have today with somewhat immature technology. The drivers support both the bus and the passengers, especially children, the elderly and people with disabilities. However, for the mobility service to be available to all passengers development and improvement of both physical infrastructure and digital solutions is needed.
Ride the future intends to continue with the joint ambition of the project's parties to test and contribute to the development of the solutions required for a future sustainable mobility system within both the dense city and the countryside. Within this ambition, both technical, inter-personal and business issues are identified as necessary to work on.
There are explicit goals to increase the modal share of bicycle trips and to promote a modal shift to active transport especially in urban areas. At the same time today’s transport system is mainly built for cars. One of the consequences is that in the same environment attentional demands on cyclists are higher than on drivers of motor vehicles. This could be remedied by relocating bicycle traffic to the centre of the lane in certain urban environments. In addition to creating equality between road user groups with respect to attentional demands this measure can strengthen the position of the bicycle in the hierarchy of road users. It would entail a step towards traffic integration, braking today’s trend to separate motor vehicles from other traffic.
To analyse potential benefits and drawbacks, international solutions and experiences were investigated and seven focus group discussions with different stakeholders were conducted. The concept “bicycle boulevard” exists in several countries and comes in different shapes. For the concept to work the share of cyclists needs to be high, but no clear-cut recommendations regarding the most adequate design can be given. How bicycle boulevards are experienced also depends on the cyclist and the purpose of the trip. This emerged in the focus group discussions, too. There was a general agreement that the car is the dominant transport mode today. While it was seen as positive in principle to relocate bicycle traffic to the centre of the lane, a number of practical and psychological obstacles were identified.
It is unlikely that a single measure will be successful in increasing the share of bicycle trips. However, in combination with other provisions, the suggested physical relocation of biycle traffic may strengthen the status of the bicycle as mode of transport.
Driver fatigue is a major cause of car accidents, and the prevention of fatigue is a major goal in the automotive industry. To reach the goal of zero traffic-accident fatalities, developing innovative solutions to prevent fatigue is a key objective. Solutions for fatigue countermeasures during driving have not yet reached a satisfactory level for effectiveness and safety. The most effective ones, such as taking a break and napping, are highly intrusive in the sense that they require you to stop the vehicle or shift drivers. In the current study, the possibility of using odors to counter driver fatigue has been explored. In this proof-of-concept study, the aim was to investigate if a fragrance system incorporating trigeminal components can have an alerting effect on sleepy drivers. The goal of the project was to provide enough evidence to determine whether the alerting fragrance is effective enough to justify further development and integration of the product into vehicles. The fragrance was tested on 21 healthy but sleep-deprived individuals while they performed a driving task in a simulator. We investigated whether the fragrance system had a measurable effect on subjective sleepiness, objective signs of fatigue and driving performance and attention.
Public transport is a central function in society and its operation needs to be prioritized also in times of crisis. All public transport actors aim to secure the operation, but what happens when a pandemic like COVID-19 occurs? In this project, the consequences for working life in public transport will be investigated from several perspectives. The project aims to gather information from bus drivers about their work environment and experiences during the pandemic, to highlight other actors' perspectives on how drivers' work environment has been affected, what trade-offs have been made to reduce the risk of drivers becoming infected, but also about how to reduce the spread of infection among passengers.
The purpose of the study is to investigate how the work environment and health of bus drivers have and will be affected by the pandemic. The data collection is carried out in two rounds, where the first round took place in the autumn of 2020 and the spring of 2021, and the second round is intended to take place after the pandemic is over. This report presents results from the first data collection and thus focuses on describing what the situation looked like during the ongoing pandemic. The data collection was done with web surveys and through interviews with bus drivers, transport companies and Regional Public Transport Authorities (RKM). In addition, blood sampling and antibody tests were performed to determine if drivers had been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The results showed that a high proportion of bus drivers had been infected with COVID-19 (self[1]reported and examined with antibody tests). A number of infection control measures had been introduced in public transport and a closed front door on the buses was the most common measure. The bus drivers experienced both positive and negative changes in the work environment during the pandemic. Closed front doors contributed to a safer environment but also led to a changed professional role with a greater focus on the driving task and less social interaction. The infection control measures were perceived as more effective for the bus drivers than for the passengers, but the bus drivers also stated that the risk of infection was not primarily in the bus but also in depots and rest areas. The drivers rated their health and working environment as relatively poor, but it is not possible to determine whether this was a consequence of the pandemic. Bus drivers, bus companies and RKM all emphasized that preparedness, coordination of measures and knowledge transfer are something to think about for the future. Both RKM and bus companies expressed concern about reduced public transport even after the pandemic. Reimbursement models based on travel volumes proved to be problematic in times of crisis when the number of travelers decreased rapidly. The results will be followed up with a data collection in the autumn of 2022.
Experimental activities and studies with small autonomous buses (shuttles) in urban areas are becoming more common. A safety driver who can take over control when the vehicle does not fulfil its task is usually required. In practice, this means that the safety driver is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the journey is safe, both for passengers and for surrounding road users. If they can do so during a full shift is not well known. The aim of the present study was to study the safety driver's work environment, with special focus on fatigue and inattention.