2getthere’s Group Rapid Transit vehicle passes desert climate test

2getthere’s Group Rapid Tansit (GRT) autonomous vehicle has proven in a simulated desert climate that it can maintain an indoor temperature of 23˚C even in the worst scenario (52˚C outside temperature and 3% humidity). The climate test took place in the Utrecht province and is one of many tests regarding the mega-order received from United Arab Emirates earlier this year. From 2020, five vehicles will perform fully autonomous shuttle services to and from Bluewater Island in Dubai.
October 26, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

8172 2getthere’s Group Rapid Tansit (GRT) autonomous vehicle has proven in a simulated desert climate that it can maintain an indoor temperature of 23˚C even in the worst scenario (52˚C outside temperature and 3% humidity). The climate test took place in the Utrecht province and is one of many tests regarding the mega-order received from United Arab Emirates earlier this year. From 2020, five vehicles will perform fully autonomous shuttle services to and from Bluewater Island in Dubai.

GRT was subject to three tests in weather conditions such as ‘hot dry’ and ‘hot humid’ with a focus on the performance of the air conditioning system (ACS) at the vehicles maximum capacity of 24 passengers.

13 ACS has been developed in collaboration with suppliers DC Airco and Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) who used the simulation of heat management in relation to airflow within the vehicle in its design of the air conditioning. Its development has been partly financed through a 2024 Massachusetts Institute of Technology research grant in which DC Airco and 2getthere have both participated.

The simulated weather conditions included extremely high temperatures and sun radiation with average peaks in the sun radiation of 1,040 Watts per square metre and peaks in temperature of 52˚C around 3.30pm. In the climatic chamber, both peaks were simulated at the same time.

The GRT’s 16 standing passengers represented 120 Watts each and eight seated passengers each represented 100 Watts were simulated by placing a 3000-Watt heat source inside the vehicle. Part of the test focused on performance during transition: the speed at which indoor conditions are brought back to the most comfortable level for passengers after the doors close and the vehicle starts its journey. The most extreme test was based on the vehicle standing still with the doors open for six minutes, but in actual circumstances much shorter stops will be sufficient to allow 24 passengers to enter the vehicle and find their seats.

According to 2getthere the test marks another step towards the operational deployment of the system, scheduled for 2019/2020.

Related Content

  • October 5, 2017
    EasyMile selected for autonomous shuttle project in Minnesota
    The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has chosen French driverless technology company EasyMile to lead its autonomous shuttle bus pilot project. According to MnDOT, this will be the first cold climate test in the US. EasyMile will use its EZ10 electric shuttle on MnDOT’s pavement test facility, MnROAD. Testing will include how the shuttle operates in snow and ice conditions, at low temperatures and on roads with salt.
    Read More
  • August 18, 2015
    Preparing for unpredictable precipitation
    ITS solutions are helping streamline winter road maintenance for Delaware and Illinois, two states that must deal with dynamic weather and varying snowfall totals. Andrew Bardin Williams reports. Wilmington and Newark (pronounced new-ark) are two vastly different cities that sit on opposite ends of Delaware. Newark is a sleepy university town of roughly 30,000 residents abutting the state’s western border with Maryland and Pennsylvania, and often gets confused with its larger namesake in New Jersey.
    Read More
  • October 14, 2021
    Volocopter's VoloDrone lifts off
    Volocopter’s electric heavy-lift drone VoloDrone conducted its first public flight yesterday here at ITS World Congress Hamburg 2021. Together with the international logistics leader DB Schenker, Volocopter, a pioneer of urban air mobility (UAM), demonstrated VoloDrone’s seamless integration into the logistics supply chain with an end-to-end cargo transport demonstration
    Read More
  • March 16, 2020
    Waymo redesigns fifth generation hardware sensor suite
    Waymo has redesigned its fifth-generation hardware sensor suite with the aim of enabling the scaled deployment of Waymo Driver autonomous vehicles (AVs).
    Read More

Highlighted Content