Skip to main content

Dutch municipality to deploy driverless shuttle on public roads

The municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the northern Netherlands is taking part in a three-month self-driving vehicle pilot project, which will see two shuttle vehicles travel from the Netherlands National Forest Service visitor centre to Wester Es in Appelscha, a distance of 1.55 miles. The driverless EZ10 shuttles, developed by Easymile, are autonomous electric vehicles without steering wheel or pedals; a ‘driver’ travels with the vehicle to stop it in the event of an emergency. The shuttles servic
July 7, 2016 Read time: 1 min
The municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the northern Netherlands is taking part in a three-month self-driving vehicle pilot project, which will see two shuttle vehicles travel from the Netherlands National Forest Service visitor centre to Wester Es in Appelscha, a distance of 1.55 miles.

The driverless EZ10 shuttles, developed by 8246 Easymile, are autonomous electric vehicles without steering wheel or pedals; a ‘driver’ travels with the vehicle to stop it in the event of an emergency.

The shuttles service run on virtual tracks that can be easily configured to accommodate sudden shifts in demand. It uses cameras, lasers and GPS to detect other vehicles and pedestrians and adjusts its trajectory and speed to avoid a collision.

For the pilot, the shuttle, which seats 10 people and it has a maximum speed of a little less than 10 miles per hour, will operate during daylight and under favourable conditions.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • CCTV brings transit safety into view
    September 15, 2014
    David Crawford looks at camera-based vulnerable road users protection systems.Safe and efficient operation of road-based transit depends on minimising the risks of incidents involving other vehicles or vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and passengers boarding or alighting from buses or trams. The extent and quality of the visibility available to drivers is crucial in preventing and avoiding incidents. Conventionally, they have had to rely on fairly basic equipment - essentially the human
  • Measuring alertness to avert drowsy driver incidents
    December 21, 2015
    Falling asleep at the wheel is the primary cause in thousands of deaths on American and other roads, with truck drivers the most at-risk group. David Crawford investigates measures to counter drowsy driving.
  • Bespoke ITS is helping to reduced collisions on America’s rural roads
    October 22, 2014
    David Crawford cherrypicks conference and award highlights Almost 30% of all US citizens live in rural areas or very small communities, and 34 of the 50 states exceed this level in their own populations, with the proportions rising as high as 85%. And although rural routes carry only 35% of all traffic, the accidents that occur on them account for some 54% of all US road traffic accident deaths.
  • Plug-and-play anti-collision technologies for everyone
    March 6, 2014
    With an eye on the autonomous vehicle market, Soterea, a new high-tech firm in New Jersey, US, is developing plug-and-play anti-collision technologies that can make new and used vehicles safer, thereby helping to further evolve the critical element necessary to make driverless vehicles commercially viable. Soterea is the brainchild of two transportation technology experts, Eva Lerner-Lam and Alain L Kornhauser, each with more than four decades of experience in developing next generation technologies for