The announcement was made by the ANI (National Innovation Agency) and reports that as of the autumn STCP will start testing autonomous buses in the Asprela area, in Porto.
According to a statement released by ANI, through Public Procurement for Innovation, the FABULOS project aims to “enable the sustainable development of public transport and make a future reality with fewer cars increasingly possible”.
Also according to the agency, the objective of the pre-commercial contract for Public Procurement of Innovation for the FABULOS project is to “find market solutions for the supply and management of automated public transport”.
an international project
In this project, which will allow STCP to test autonomous buses in Porto, the public transport company is part of a consortium made up of Forum Virium Helsinki (in Finland) and the municipalities of Lamia (in Greece), Gjesdal (in Norway) and Helmond (in the Netherlands ).Subscribe to our newsletter
In addition to this consortium, another four are integrated into the project: Mobile Civitatem, AuVeTech and Fleet Complete, Saga and Sensible 4 — Shotl.
Currently, three consortia are already undergoing field tests. The first started in April in the cities of Gjesdal (in Norway), Helsinki (in Finland) and Tallinn (in Estonia).
In the autumn, in addition to the city of Porto, Lamia (in Greece) and Helmond (in the Netherlands) will also see the pilot tests begin.
How it works?
According to the ANI statement, "the shuttles are expected to have no driver and only one security person will be allowed on board if local regulations so require."
According to ANI, autonomous buses will be tested to “ensure the functionality of remote operability from the control room” and must be able to “autonomously overcome obstacles”.
Through the Innovation Public Procurement mechanism, the FABULOS project received approximately seven million euros from the Horizonte 2020 program.
Of these, 5.4 million were distributed among the different purchasing partners for the pre-commercial purchase phases.
As for STCP, the company from Porto received a total of 912,700 euros from the European Union.
Sources: Observador and Jornal de Notícias
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