Stavanger, Norway, now has the first self-driving bus in Europe. Karsan’s Level-4 autonomous electric bus – the Karsan Autonomous e-ATAK – has begun public transport operations in the city center.
The Karsan e-ATAK is equipped with LiDAR sensors, radar technology, RGB cameras, and thermal cameras to autonomously detect its surroundings. It is automated by Adastec’s flowride.ai Level-4 automated driving software platform, which allows the bus to travel without a driver on a planned route at speeds up to 50 kilometers (~ 31 miles) per hour. The vehicle is able to perform driverless operations, including: approaching stops, managing stop times, managing the boarding and alighting of passengers, and navigating and responding to intersections, crossings, traffic circles, and traffic lights. It is able to travel in all weather conditions, both day and night.
E-Atak is powered by 220 kWh batteries developed by BMW that reach 230 kW of power. The 8.3-meter-long Autonomous e-Atak can carry 52 passengers and has a range of 300 km. It can be recharged in 5 hours with AC charging units and in 3 hours with DC units.
Karsan CEO Okan Baş said: “With our vision of always being one step ahead in the future of mobility, we are shaping the future of transportation with the innovative products we have developed as Karsan. Autonomous e-ATAK is now being employed to kick off the driverless public transportation service in Norway within this project, right after our driverless vehicle used in real traffic conditions at the campus of Michigan State University. This is a first in Europe. We are truly delighted that urban public transportation will be serviced for the first time in Europe with our self-driving electric bus Karsan Autonomous e-ATAK.”