Tallinn is the vibrant and constantly evolving capital of Estonia. The pilot route runs from Tallinn Ülemiste City E-Estonia Briefing Center to the International Airport and from there to a Ülemiste shopping center. Connecting Ülemiste City – the biggest privately owned business campus in Northern Europe – with Tallinn International Airport and Ülemiste shopping center gives an opportunity to test new mobility service with a large number of passengers.

The Tallinn pilot was hosted by the Mobile Civitatem Consortium with four Estonian partners: Modern Mobility, Tallinn University of Technology, AuVeTech and Fleet Complete. During the pilot period ISEAUTO was tested, together with a new automated driving systems, including smart bus stops.

As seen on the video, autonomous vehicle shuttles did not have a separate lane but drove in traffic. Most of the pilot route the traffic was up to 30 km/h, one stretch of 500 m from the shopping mall to the airport was up to 50 km/h. The route included both right and left turns. The Ülemiste City quarter has mixed traffic including pedestrians and cyclists at low speed. The shuttle operated in self-driving mode in the vast majority of situations while the option to manually override remained to assist in difficult or preferable circumstances. The shuttles were monitored by human operators remotely by using novel 5G technology.

The image below shows the 2.4 kilometre long route and its stops. The pilot was launched on 18 June 2020 and the three shuttle buses were operational for 50 days until September 2020.

ISEAUTO with 8 seats to be tested

The vehicle is a prototype of ISEAUTO which is an autonomous SAE level 4 electric shuttle developed by Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) and Auve Tech. ISEAUTO is designed to serve clients in need of transportation in educational and business campuses, healthcare facilities, airports, entertainment districts, and other venues. It can also be used to deliver cargo. The technical specifications are as follows:

  • Max cruising speed: 25 km/h (15 mph) 
  • Operating time: 8 hours per charge 
  • Capacity: 8 passengers 
  • Length: 3500 mm (147.79”) 
  • Width: 1500 mm (59.06”) 
  • Height: 2400 mm (94.48”) 
  • Curb weight: 1250 kg (2,755 lbs) 
  • Wheelchair accessibility: Yes 
  • Teleoperation capability: Yes

A teleoperation solution is implemented capable to control a number of vehicles over the 5G network. Teleoperation enables to monitor and control all vehicles from the Remote Control Center and take over the control in case of ISEAUTO requests help or human intervention is needed.

During the field-tests critical issues, such as cyber-security, safety, V2X, and social acceptance, to make the future public transport safe and secure for urban environments. Tallinn University of Technology, in particular, is dealing with innovative technologies, research, and analysis of self-driving vehicles behaviour and mobility based on Ülemiste City experiment. Fleet Complete software is used for bus maintenance and for collecting feedback of shuttle performance.

Advanced Mobility Management Systems

Modern Mobility provides the digital mobility management platform. The platform itself is a dynamic mobility solution (includes solutions for on-demand transportation, micro mobility etc.) for rural and suburban areas. The Software as Service (SaaS) based mobility management system consists of a mobility service planning module, passenger module and smart bus stops. Through the system, the public transport operator can design micro mobility services setting the service areas, fixed and dynamic routes, bus stops, pricing policies, and service schedules. The system also has passenger application and applications for infotainment inside the shuttles and in bus stops.

 

For further information contact: 

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications
Johann Peetre
Expert in Transport Development and Investments Department
johann.peetre(at)mkm.ee
Tel +372 625 6386

Modern Mobility
Pirko Konsa
CEO
pirko.konsa(at)modernmobility.eu