2020

"Demand responsive transport in low population density areas"

Interreg-Projekts Smacker - virtueal conference on

"Demand responsive transport in low population density areas"

Nov. 10, 2020

programme

Link to registration: https://1ka.arnes.si/a/2707

July 8, 2020: Visit by Provincial Councilor Schleritzko

The Lower Austrian Provincial Council for Finances and Transport,

DI Ludwig Schleritzko, accompanied by Ms. Stefanie Hobiger, MSc.,
visited the Institute for Transport Studies and Davemos.

Series of discussions on behaviours, automation, digitalisation, cycling and general planning issues, for Lower Austria context, took place during the meeting.

FSV Seminar: Diversity of Uses in Public (Street) Space

At the traditional FSV Planning Seminar, we will focus this time on the diversity of uses in public (street) space. This includes uses that involve spatial demands. Claims and interests in public space have always existed and are constantly evolving. This is clearly evident when comparing historical street scenes from the 19th century with those from the 1970s or today. Even now, the dynamics of this process can be observed, driven by changing lifestyles, shifting framework conditions, and evolving guiding principles.

We aim to address the following questions: Are our traffic planning tools and solutions prepared for and adaptable to these developments? How can these demands be met, especially in areas with limited spatial resources, such as town centers? What are the limits of what is feasible, and how can prioritization or balancing of interests be achieved? In addition to presentations on current developments in various aspects of use, several practical examples will also be showcased.

As usual, this two half-day event will consist of a mix of keynote presentations, reflective workshops, and group discussions. There will be ample time for exchanging ideas both within the official program and beyond.

The event is organized in cooperation with the Austrian Research Association for Road-Rail-Traffic (FSV) and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU).

Thursday, September 10 – Friday, September 11, 2020

Venue:
Heiltherme Bad Waltersdorf,
Thermenstraße 111,
8271 Bad Waltersdorf

Digibus®: Public Demo Operation in Koppl

For the first time, the automated Digibus® will operate on a scheduled timetable in a public demo operation during August, September, and October 2020. This demo operation in the Salzburg municipality of Koppl will test both the integration of a self-driving shuttle into a regional mobility system and new interaction concepts under real-world conditions. All rides on the Digibus® are free of charge.

Since 2017, occasional test drives with self-driving shuttles from various manufacturers have been conducted in the Salzburg municipality of Koppl. The focus of this Salzburg scenario is on bridging the first and last mile, thereby enhancing the existing public transport system with automated supplementary services. Now, for the first time, the Digibus® will be tested on a scheduled timetable as part of regular operations and integrated into the public mobility system. No ticket is required for rides on the Digibus®.

"Testing under real-world conditions – on a regular road with various traffic situations inside and outside the town, including inclines, left-turn scenarios, and interactions with other road users – revealed challenging details in the areas of driving safety and autonomy. The solutions developed for these challenges will now be tested during the 2020 demo operation," says project leader Karl Rehrl, head of research lines at Salzburg Research.

New Interaction Concepts on the Bus

Particularly with the prospect that no operator may be required on board in the future, significant work has been done on the vehicle's communication with other road users. "In a fully automated context without an on-site contact person, the bus must communicate very clearly. Over the past few months, solutions for incident management, capacity management, and interaction concepts with passengers and other road users have been developed," Rehrl adds.

During the demo operation, further developed solutions previously tested in the lab will be used, including passenger information and capacity management systems from the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg. These systems are implemented on outdoor-compatible touchscreen communication terminals from Commend. Displays on the bus and at bus stops provide trip and connection-related information to better integrate the Digibus® into public transport and enhance the passenger experience.

In recent months, the project consortium has also worked intensively on areas such as customized layouts, user interface design, user experience, and audio signal processing for better speech intelligibility on the road. A highlight is the intelligent interaction with the chatbot voice assistant developed by Commend.

Framework for the Demo Operation

• Timetable: The demo operation runs from August 10 to August 28 and from September 21 to October 16, 2020. During this time, the Digibus® will operate on weekdays in five trips between 9:00 AM and 1:30 PM as a supplement to Line 152. This will temporarily increase the current hourly service of Line 152 to a half-hourly service.
• Route: The Digibus® operates between Koppl town center and Koppl Sperrbrücke (connection to Line 150 Salzburg – Bad Ischl).
• Operator on Board: As before, a trained operator is required on public roads to monitor operations and intervene if necessary. During the demo operation, a staff member from Postbus AG will always be on board.
• COVID-19 Measures: Wearing a face mask is mandatory. In addition to the operator, either three individuals from different households or four individuals from the same household may board. The shuttle will be regularly disinfected by the operator between trips.

3rd Generation of the Digibus®

The 2020 demo operation will use the third and latest generation of the EasyMile EZ10 shuttle. This version features improved sensor technology: the LIDAR sensors now have 32 layers instead of 16 and are positioned differently. Additionally, the shuttle is now only capable of monodirectional driving, which complies with the regulations of some countries for automated shuttles to be approved for road traffic.

The new shuttle was delivered to Koppl in May 2020. Since then, preparations for the demo operation, operator training, and technical tests have been underway.

As before, the Digibus® operates with a test license plate (registered to Salzburg Research) and a special permit from the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology (BMK), as regular road approval for automated vehicles is not yet available in Austria.

Flagship Project "Digibus® Austria"

In the Austrian flagship project "Digibus® Austria", a high-profile consortium led by Salzburg Research is researching and testing the reliable and safe operation of automated minibuses in public transport. The autonomy and driving safety of autonomous vehicles are to be further improved.

The flagship project "Digibus® Austria" runs until March 2021 and is funded under the research program "Mobility of the Future" by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology (BMK). Leading companies and research institutes along the entire value chain of public transport, from vehicle providers to mobility service providers, contribute to the results:

• Research Partners: Salzburg Research (project lead), Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, University of Salzburg – Center for Human-Computer Interaction, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) – Institute for Transport Studies, FACTUM, apptec ventures GmbH.
• Corporate Partners: Kapsch TrafficCom AG, PRISMA solutions EDV-Dienstleistungen GmbH, Commend International GmbH, Fluidtime Data Services GmbH, HERRY Consult GmbH, ÖBB-Holding AG, EasyMile SAS.
• Associated Partners: Land Salzburg, Land Lower Austria, ÖAMTC Fahrtechnik GmbH, A1 Telekom Austria AG.

www.digibus-austria.at

Contact Information:

Project Lead Digibus® Austria:
Dr. Karl Rehrl, Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
+43-662-2288-416 | +43-664-14 40 368 | karl.rehrl(at)salzburgresearch.at

Cornelia Zankl, Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
+43-662-2288-317 | cornelia.zankl(at)salzburgresearch.at

Innovative Teaching Tool for Road Design: A 3D Model to Simplify Road Superelevation Transitions

When learning the methods of road design, students often find the proper planning of road superelevation transitions (i.e., the change in cross slope) to be a particular challenge. As part of their bachelor's thesis, KTWW students Angelika Ilkerl, Julia Sebesta, and Alois Scherzer explored what a "teaching aid" might look like to enhance understanding of this complex topic.

Under the guidance of Reinfried Mansberger (Institute of Geomatics), they began by conducting extensive surveys of an existing road and digitally visualizing it. Through meticulous and detailed work, they then designed and built a wooden model of a (variably adjustable) road superelevation transition. With dimensions of 100x30x40 cm, the model is small enough to be transported to lecture halls yet large enough to allow the interplay of the road axis and edges during superelevation transitions to be viewed "analog" and three-dimensionally from all sides.

The supervisors of the project, Juliane Stark and Wolfgang J. Berger from the Institute for Transport Studies, hope that this model will help transform the "confusion" in students' minds into an "Ah, now I get it!" moment. At the presentation on January 27, 2020, in the BOKU Festsaal, the model was already extensively admired by colleagues.

7th biennial Mobile Tartu conference

30. Juni 2020: IVe / DAVeMoS contributed at the 7th biennial Mobile Tartu conference

https://mobiletartu.ut.ee/.

Prof. Susilo co-authored a virtually presented paper on using smartwatch in capturing people movement and biometric information overtime and linked it with location and activities.

The data was collected based on an in-house built open source app, which ran on an smartwatch's android platform.

Development of a Traffic Concept

01/2020: Presentation at the Seminar "Development of a Traffic Concept" in Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn

Over the course of a winter semester, 14 students examined the traffic situation in the municipality of Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn (Lower Austria). Under the supervision of Michael Meschik and Juliane Stark, they analyzed deficiencies and developed proposed measures in three teams. On January 22, 2020, they presented their results as part of a poster exhibition to municipal representatives.

99th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2020, Washington DC

99th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2020, Washington DC:

Great networking, interesting posters and sessions, fruitful meetings.

Yusak Susilo gave two lectures, on papers which were written with Jia Guo and Anna Pernestål (on temporal element of adoption behaviour of automated bus service) and on behalf of Albin Engholm, Anna Pernestål, and Ida Kristoffersson (on calculating the total cost impact of automated truck) as well as two poster presentations on fair accessibility (with Isak Jarlebring Rubensson and Oded Cats) and WTP of integrated card service (with Ilyas Alhassan, Bryan Matthews, Jeremy Toner.

• Temporal Elements of Expectation and Perception in Adopting Autonomous Buses Services: Evidences from Stockholm

Jia Guo, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan
Yusak Susilo, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
Anna Pernestål, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskola

• Lightning Talk: Fair Accessibility: Operationalizing the Distributional Effects of Policy Interventions

Isak Rubensson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Yusak Susilo, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
Oded Cats, Delft University of Technology

• Public Transport Users’ Valuation and Willingness-to-Pay for a Multi-Regional and Multi-Operator Integrated Ticketing System

Ilyas Alhassan, University of Leeds Institute for Transport Studies
Bryan Matthews, University of Leeds
Jeremy Toner, University of Leeds
Yusak Susilo, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna

Juliane Stark had the opportunity to present a study on children's cycling skills within the Bicycle Research Poster Session.

• Young Cyclists Ready for Road Traffic?: Physical Activity Among Children and Their Cycling Skills

Juliane Stark, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
Michael Meschik, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
Natalie Weber, former student at University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
Bernhard Kalteis, Rosinak & Partner ZT

Meeting of the Working Group "Structural Equation Modeling" (SEM)

26th / 27th of March 2020

Institute for Transport Studies

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna

Call:

Deadline for Abstract Submission:  25 th  November 2019 Please send your abstract including title, keywords and authors´ information to sem2020(at)boku.ac.at The main text should not exceed 200 words and may include tables and figures. The preferred file format is MS Word

Erstellung eines Verkehrskonzepts

The municipality of Horn was in the focus of the seminar "Erstellung eines Verkehrskonzepts" (Creation of a traffic concept) in the winter semester 2020/21.

Under the supervision of Michael Meschik and Juliane Stark, three student teams developed ideas for measures to promote sustainable development of the mobility/transport system.

Among other things, the focus was on the improvement of public transport, the redesign of the main square and the development of measures for bicycle traffic in Horn.

The presentation of the results took place as an online event in front of community representatives and guests (NÖ-Regional). The community representatives were impressed by the detailed processing and supported in their efforts to transform Horn into an even more livable city and will continue to discuss the students' suggestions.