Karsan’s Autonomous e-ATAK has become the first self-driving public transport bus in Europe to operate through tunnels.
The autonomous vehicle now runs on an extended route in Stavanger, Norway, which includes an 800-metre-long tunnel.
For self-driving vehicles that detect their surroundings with sensors, tunnels offer limited communication. Indeed, the vehicles struggle to collect accurate data as they cannot reliably communicate with satellites and thus lose their location.
However, Karsan’s Autonomous e-ATAK, developed in cooperation with ADASTEC, now uses autonomous routing to overcome this challenge.
The e-ATAK uses LIDAR sensors in various locations around the vehicle, as well as advanced radar technology, high-resolution image processing with RGB cameras, and thermal cameras.
“We have achieved a significant milestone with the high mapping technology of the Autonomous e-ATAK. We've extended our current route in Stavanger with traffic lights, intersections, and a tunnel. Tunnels are a very challenging test for autonomous vehicles due to limited signal and lighting. We passed this test smoothly with Autonomous e-ATAK. This made Karsan Autonomous e-ATAK the first and only self-driving public transport vehicle in Europe, which can pass through a tunnel. With this significant success, we have once again demonstrated our company's pioneering and leading position in the field of autonomous transport while also achieving another milestone in the public transportation sector.”
