In Mannheim, a new urban quarter is being developed called “Franklin”. It has its origins in a former large US Army property, which also included residential buildings for military personnel. The origin is still evident in the names of the streets, which are all named after famous people from the history of the USA. Originally, the street names were English-language, but in the meantime they have been “Germanised”: Thomas Jefferson Street became Thomas Jefferson Street.
Franklin belongs to the city district of Käfertal. There is a tram in Käfertal, but nothing in Franklin for the time being. A few rails have already been laid, but it will be a long time before there are any trams there. But… Mannheim has a clever idea. The Franklin area will be served by an autonomous shuttle that brings people to the tram, picks them up from the tram and drives them from point to point within Franklin.
It’s a good thing that the “RABUS” project is running in Baden-Württemberg. RABUS = “Reallabor für den Automatisierten BUSbetrieb im ÖPNV in der Stadt und auf dem Land”. Participants in the project are – for example – the vehicle manufacturer and technology group ZF (for the vehicles), the “Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)” and the “rnv” (Rhein-Neckar Verkehrsgesellschaft), Mannheim.
The current status of the realisation of RABUS: for the urban application, the decisive phase is being entered in Mannheim. For rural areas, a pilot project is planned in the Friedrichshafen region (on Lake Constance). But that will take some time.
RABUS in Mannheim wird auf einer definierten „Linie“ unterwegs sein (siehe Karte). Allerdings soll RABUS nicht nach einem festen Fahrplan unterwegs sein, sondern „on demand“, will sagen: auf Anforderung. Wobei das System so programmiert sein wird, dass Fahrten mit gleichem oder im wesentlichen gleichem Fahrweg zusammengefasst werden („Ridepooling“).
Zurzeit testet ZF in Franklin den Einsatz der autonomen Busse. Es gibt acht vollelektrische Kleinbusse vom Typ Mercedes-Benz eVito, die alle mit den drei Systemen Lidar, Radar und Kamera ausgestattet sind. Das ermöglicht es dem Bus, die Umgebung des Fahrzeugs rundum (360 Grad) wahrzunehmen und aufgrund der empfangenen Informationen zu reagieren. Zum Beispiel: da kommen zwei Kinder zwischen am rechten Fahrbahnrand geparkten Autos heraus = bremsen! Die „Anordnung“ der Systeme ist von Bus zu Bus leicht unterschiedlich: noch ist RABUS in der Testphase, da wird erprobt, was sich am besten bewährt.
RABUS in Mannheim will travel on a defined “line” (see map). However, RABUS will not operate according to a fixed timetable, but “on demand”. The system will be programmed in such a way that journeys with the same or essentially the same route will be combined (“ridepooling”).
ZF is currently testing the use of autonomous buses in Franklin. There are eight all-electric Mercedes-Benz eVito minibuses, all equipped with the three systems lidar, radar and camera. This enables the bus to perceive the vehicle’s surroundings all around (360 degrees) and react on the basis of the information received. For example: there are two children coming out from between cars parked on the right-hand side of the road = brake! The “arrangement” of the systems varies slightly from bus to bus: RABUS is still in the test phase, where it is being tried out to see what works best.
ZF demonstrated at a stand what the bus “sees” via its cameras. The image received by the eVito via its forward-facing cameras was transmitted to a monitor. And really: you can see the parked cars, you can see people crossing the lane … In short: the bus actually “knows” what is going on around it.
In addition, the bus “knows” its route based on a road map that it has “learned” and with which it constantly compares the information it receives from lidar, radar and cameras. For example, the following information is stored: the road narrows up ahead, the school is coming up ahead, there is a zebra crossing, so reduce speed. You can programme this into an autonomous bus, a bus with a driver … does what the driver wants. If the driver doesn’t want to slow down, the bus doesn’t slow down.
Due to legal requirements the autonomous bus still must have a “steward” on board, who can intervene whenever necessary. At the presentation of RABUS in Franklin, everyone could see that the bus did not actually need the “steward”: it “managed” to operate on its own.
RABUS recognises obstacles on its way. A car parked at the edge of the roadway that protrudes half a metre into the track: no problem, RABUS avoids it all by itself and drives past it. If there is more than half a metre, the steward still has to take the wheel for the time being. But as the people from ZF said at the presentation: RABUS is learning, it will soon be able to drive around such obstacles all by itself.
All tests are still taking place in a fenced-off area. But that will change at the turn of the year. Then RABUS will be released into the wild in Franklin. Then RABUS – initially still in test mode – will go out on its future route and “get to know” it.
From the turn of the year 2023 / 2024, RABUS is expected to start regular passenger service in Franklin. This will be an “on-demand service” and not a fixed line with a clearly defined timetable.
ZF has developed a smart shuttle for RABUS. It can carry 22 passengers, 8 of whom have a seat and 14 a standing place. This makes ZF’s “shuttle” significantly larger than the corresponding vehicles of its competitors.
