DEPAUT

Background

Today, a lot of time is spent sorting buses, often in the evenings, within the country's bus depots. This can involve transporting buses to and from the wash or workshop and preparing the buses for the morning traffic. This requires a lot of time and resources, and minor damage to the buses also occurs, which costs millions of kronor each year. Being able to carry out these movements autonomously could mean a potentially large saving in terms of both time and resources. So far, autonomous technology has been developed by the respective vehicle manufacturers to be able to offer these services on their own bus fleet, but in this project we want to demonstrate a system that is independent of the vehicle manufacturers' own systems and where the technology is installed in the infrastructure instead of on the vehicle.

Purpose and objectives of the project

The project is a preliminary study and investigates new infrastructure-based technology and organizational conditions for the automation of bus depots and will present the basis for a full-scale pilot.

The project is run in five different work packages during the period 1 November 2024 to 30 June 2025 and is coordinated by RISE, which also contributes research expertise in law, technology development and human-machine interaction. Other partners are Nobina and Unikie. Nobina is a stakeholder and provides the project with a depot in Katrineholm. Unikie is the supplier of the technical third-party solution that the feasibility study investigates.

Method

The feasibility study will be run in five different work packages, partly on site in Katrineholm but also via Desktop and online meetings. Respective flows will be analyzed and the project will study both challenges and opportunities with the technology. The project also takes into account issues related to law, business model and employment law. The goal is to start a larger pilot in the next step.