Recent developments in automated driving have led to many advantages, contributing for instance to increase security and efficiency, enhancement of mobility and improve comfort. Future availability of a personalized point-to-point service by self-driving cars is expected to change mobility behavior. However, the increasing automation in motorized individual traffic also carries the risk that many of today’s existing forms of sustainable transport, such as public transport, walking or cycling could be pushed back.
Autonomous vehicles specifically targeted to support footpaths can promote active forms of mobility and serve as a complementary service to existing mobility solutions. As such, they can assist people in different user contexts, like the transport of small freight and goods. In order to support passengers – especially persons with mobility restrictions – in interchanges of public transport, a concept for a smart baggage trolley and navigator was developed in the research project "TransitBuddy". This pre-project has revealed the open research questions, which mainly arise due to the complexity of the dynamic influences, particularly related to autonomous driving while sharing the physical environment with people in public spaces such as train stations, airports, hospitals and shopping malls. This constitutes an essential barrier to the safe and efficient use of autonomous vehicles.
The aim of "TransportBuddy" is to develop an autonomous vehicle that allows for transporting small goods or freight (e.g. shopping goods), thereby supporting footpaths and improving accessibility. This personal assistant is applicable in public spaces and major infrastructures such as sidewalks, public spaces, shopping areas, railway stations, airports or shopping centers. This will be achieved by first identifying the target group-specific use motifs, motivations and barriers and subsequently specifying the technical requirements for the autonomous "TransportBuddy". A main aspect of the project "TransportBuddy" is the interaction of autonomous vehicles with the people around. Thus, the movement behavior of people in their interaction with autonomous vehicles will be measured qualitatively and quantitatively in the relevant use cases. These data sets will be used for modeling, which is based on the integration of a 3D physics simulation to model vehicles with a pedestrian flow simulation. Additionally, multi-layered planning concepts for navigation will be developed that significantly improve collision avoidance with dynamic obstacles. To facilitate the movement of the autonomous vehicle in crowded groups of people, the robot platform will be covered with a touch-sensitive artificial layer called AirSkin and methods to navigate with physical contact will be explored.
A key objective of "TransportBuddy" is to develop and implement a transportation structure for an existing transport platform from DS-Automotion (Sally). The design of the structure will be based on certain aspects of user acceptance, human-robot interaction and functional aspects. In the evaluation of the final autonomous vehicle developed in the project, the operation will be demonstrated in a real environment and the scientific progress in relation to the user requirements will be assessed. Furthermore, target-orientated exploitation strategies will be examined and the project results will be disseminated.
