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.

Related Content

  • February 20, 2020
    Get connected at ITS European Congress in Lisbon
    The way connectivity is transforming how we plan and deliver mobility will be discussed in detail at this year’s ITS European Congress in Lisbon from 18-20 May.
  • August 29, 2019
    Tech advances create MaaS without compromise
    Advances in technology make it possible for authorities to compile and maintain MaaS platforms cheaply - and without relinquishing control to third parties. Colin Sowman finds out more… It is increasingly clear that local authorities’ reluctance to implement Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is based on politics and finance. However, the technology underpinning MaaS is evolving rapidly and is presenting new solutions. At its heart, the political resistance comes down to the divide between the ethos of public
  • July 23, 2012
    Open communication platform to support cooperative infrastructure
    Within the European Commission's CVIS project, work is going on to shrink the open vehicle communication platform to make it more market-ready and to remove barriers to the creation of appropriate applications by those external to the project. Here, ERTICO's Zeljko Jeftic and Paul Kompfner and Q-Free's Knut Evensen discuss progress. Development of the open communication platform which will support the various applications developed by the European Commission's (EC's) Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Syste
  • July 16, 2021
    Bringing the Internet of Mobility to life
    As we chart our route to the ITS World Congress in Hamburg, a recent Ertico-ITS Europe webinar explored the future of connectivity including policy, infrastructure and security