Skip to main content

Electric buses serve as mobile testing platforms by Living Lab project

The Living Lab Bus joint project, coordinated VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and launched at the beginning of 2016, is using Finnish electric buses acquired by Helsinki Region Transport as tangible development and testing platforms for businesses to validate their solutions in a real use environment. The buses can be used for testing user-oriented smart services and technologies, ranging from user interfaces and passenger services to sensors and transport operators’ solutions. VTT says the goa
March 3, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The Living Lab Bus joint project, coordinated 814 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and launched at the beginning of 2016, is using Finnish electric buses acquired by 6995 Helsinki Region Transport as tangible development and testing platforms for businesses to validate their solutions in a real use environment. The buses can be used for testing user-oriented smart services and technologies, ranging from user interfaces and passenger services to sensors and transport operators’ solutions.

VTT says the goal is to create a new type of everyday development environment for accelerating the product development of businesses by means of agile experiments, in close cooperation with end-users and research institutions. Potential new solutions include easy-to-use passenger feedback solutions, automated passenger counting, and automated road condition observations.

In addition to the Helsinki region, the City of Tampere is also participating in the project, exploiting the results in its own public transport development.

The project supports the creation of new services for transport service users and providers; the business operations of companies are promoted by accelerating the cost-effective introduction of new solutions. The Living Lab Bus showcases Finnish expertise, while also increasing the attractiveness of public transport and cooperation between various players, as well as producing new research information on the needs of public transport users and service developers.

Identifying utilisation interests and needs of various players associated with implementing and using the development platform and setting some common rules for the operations are scheduled for spring 2016. After that, the project will be expanded by bringing in new players, who will utilise the platform in their development activities.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Strike action prompts commuters to try something different
    June 2, 2014
    David Crawford highlights responses to transit disruption on both sides of the Atlantic. Shortly before workers at San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) began a lengthy round of pay and conditions-related strikes in summer 2013, impacting on the daily lives of 400,000 communities, online ridesharing group Avego publicised a new web address: bartstrike.com. By the start of the following week, Avego was encouraging stranded commuters to download its smartphone app by offering them the chance in a raffle
  • Grab and NUS set up AI lab in Singapore to make cities smarter
    July 20, 2018
    Technology company Grab and the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up an artificial intelligence (AI) lab to help develop smarter cities in South-east Asia. The partnership intends to solve challenges such as congestion and the liveability of cities in the region. The Grab-NUS AI Lab, part of an initial joint investment of S$6m (£3.3m), will utilise data from the Grab platform to provide insights into how citizens move across cities. It will also be used to map out traffic patterns and ident
  • Investigating charging methods for open road tolling
    January 30, 2012
    Toll system suppliers are considering service structures and technologies needed to address issues of social exclusion in open road tolling. Jason Barnes asked Telvent's Pat McGowan to explain moves to address the needs of all toll customers
  • NFC Forum and APTA sign collaboration agreement
    February 18, 2016
    The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and the NFC Forum have signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will enable the two organisations to jointly educate the industry on near field communication (NFC) technologies supporting the needs of public transportation operators. The use of NFC for public transit ticketing is growing. Recently, New York State announced a plan to support NFC payments for the 11-million-user Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the UK Cards Asso