The BeIntelli Bus, the first digitalised and automated public service bus in Germany, recently received its first road approval from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in accordance with the German Autonomous Vehicle Registration and Operation Ordinance (AFGBV). To honour this milestone, a test drive of the BeIntelli bus took place in Berlin on Saturday.
Carsten Rinka, Chief Sales & Project Officer at IAV, and Sebastian Sinning, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), took part in the drive together with MAN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alexander Vlaskamp and ZEKI founder Prof Dr Dr h.c. Sahin Albayrak.
‘In addition to the rapid development of driver assistance systems in the automotive industry, there are also numerous projects and trials on automated driving in public transport,’ said Sinning.
"With BeIntelli, we can make excellent use of our expertise and gain valuable insights. We are very much looking forward to the next milestones, including the integration of the bus into Berlin's public transport system."
Sebastian Sinning, Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Development of the BeIntelli bus
IAV has been working on the future of autonomous mobility together with many partners at the Centre for Experimental Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation (ZEKI) for four years. This partnership has resulted in the BeIntelli bus, a MAN Lion's City E.
Technical features of the bus
BeIntelli is a showcase project for autonomous driving and makes the development of complex technologies and their implementation in intelligent vehicles and infrastructure tangible for everyone. IAV is responsible for retrofitting the bus.
The bus was retrofitted with six 3D LIDARs, eight radars, nine cameras, 36 ultrasonic sensors and a highly visible server in the front part of the passenger compartment. Inside the bus, passengers can use ten displays and six tablets to monitor the perception of the surroundings, predict changes in the environment, plan routes and carry out actions.