Estonia, Spring Fair at the Open Air Museum
Fairly easy commute
The beginning
The Open Air Museum celebrated its annual Spring Fair, which attracted not only locals and families but also tourists from different parts of the world. Auve Tech’s autonomous shuttles offered a convenient link between the museum and the shopping center’s parking, where a lot of people left their cars. As the Fair was a family event young families with children were the ones most interested in the service.
Operational environment
The route covered 2.2 km and had 4 stops, one of which conceded with the public bus stop. On the day of operation, the shuttle was more frequent than the public bus.
The route included two points where to turn around and one left turn. The shuttle operated on a Sunday, which was a public holiday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The complexity of the environment
The turning point at the shopping center was at a high traffic junction which was not convenient, but the operation passed without incidents. The route was busy and there were some cars parked on the side of the road. Since it was a busy road with a 50 km/h speed limit the operator had to pay close attention to passing cars as the shuttle’s maximum speed was 20 km/h.
The weather conditions
Although spring weather can be very changeable, it did not affect teleoperation during the project.
Challenges tackled
The most serious problem was the bus stop at the shopping center parking lot as it was at a busy junction. As well as, when a car passed the shuttle not keeping enough distance, the automatic brake would deploy which interrupted the smooth driving so detection had to be disabled.
The project was arranged with little notice therefore there was not enough time to inform people about the service offered and some of the bus stops did not have clear information about the route, making people more hesitant to use the service.
