The project was carried out following the PCP framework:
Phase 1: solution design: five commercial consortia were selected to prepare a concept and feasibility study.
Phase 2: Prototype Development and Lab Testing: 4 Suppliers selected: transforming the most promising ideas into well-defined and functional prototypes, validated into a technical test laboratory against the requirements defined in the Functional Specifications.
Phase 3: Field Testing: 3 Suppliers selected. They tested the prototype solutions in real-life conditions, based on the Functional Specifications (Tender Document 2’’) set by the Procuring Partners.
The pilots took place as folows:
- S4 - Shotl Consortium: Sensible 4 (FIN) (GACHA shuttle / retrofitted DongFeng CM7/ retrofitted Toyota Proace, retrofitted Renault Twizy), Shotl (ES)
Pilot 1: Apr – Jun 2020: Helsinki (FI)
Pilot 2: Jan - Mar 2021: Gjesdal (NO)
- Mobile Civitatem Consortium: Modern Mobility, Tallinn University of Technology, AuVe Tech (Iseauto shuttle) and Fleet Complete (EE)
Pilot 1: Jul – Aug 2020: Tallinn (EE)
Pilot 2: Nov - Dec 2020: Lamia (GR)
- Saga Consortium: Mobility Forus, Halogen and Ramboll Management Consulting (NOR) together with Spare Labs (CAN) & Future Mobility Network (NL). Navya as subcontractor
Pilot 1: Jul – Sept 2020: Gjesdal (NO)
Pilot 2: Jan - Mar 2021: Helmond (NL)
All were operational in 20-40 km/h zones, had routes of 1,3 - 3,3 km long, lasted 45 - 50 days, consisted of 1-3 vehicles, operated with 4G, established a Remote Control Centre and were integrated in existing public transport route planners. In all pilots passengers traveled for free and completed user acceptance surveys. All in all, 6 different vehicles were used, 13675 km was driven in mixed traffic, 3157 passengers were on board, average speeds up to 20 km/h and maximum speeds up to 30 km/h. Autonomous mode was driven up to 98% of the time.
Exploitable results are first and foremost the actual prototype solutions from the 3 Suppliers validated via 6 field tests in real-life mixed traffic conditions. Suppliers will exploit these by (first) using them as the basis for follow-up R&D and pilots and (then) turning them into commercial services and products. The FABULOS Buyers Group and Preferred Partners will exploit these via follow-up procurements of pilots and/or deployments. In addition, there is a range of documents and lessons that can be exploited. For example, the Functional specifications (Tender document 2’’) and Step-by-step field test planning (part of Tender Document 9: Field test specifications) can be used by (future) procure as a basis for future tender documentation and planning of pilots or deployments. Also the Policy paper and the FABULOS Academy webinars, all available on the website fabulos.eu.
FABULOS has been extremely active in disseminating its progress and results. Not only via high-quality outputs such as videos, e-courses, events, articles, interviews and a professional website, but also via close collaboration with EU-funded projects on the same automated shared mobility topic, via regular one-on-one exchange with interested cities and public transport operators external to the project and via persistent visibility at international conferences and events. The dissemination covered both the process (PCP tool) and the content and exploitable results.