Photo: Rasmus Degnbol, LINC.

Become a test passenger on self-driving shuttles

Transport and logistics
In the beginning of 2021, three self-driving shuttle buses will be tested at DTU Lyngby Campus. Sign up now to become a test passenger.

LINC, one of the largest Danish projects working with self-driving shuttles, will test their shuttles in the southern part of DTU Campus Lyngby in the beginning of 2021 and for six months ahead.

The project is looking for a minimum of 500 test passengers, who, during the test period, must respond separately to questionnaires and will be able to participate in competitions.

The test will provide an insight into what passengers think of the new mode of transport, and how the self-driving shuttle services can be part of the public transport in future urban environments. This insight is gathered, among other things, from questionnaires answered before the test begins, during the test, and through an app specifically developed for LINC.

Investigating passenger behaviour
“Even before the test starts at the end of the year, we want to know about the test passengers’ transport habits to see if they believe this new mode of transport can become an alternative in their everyday lives,” says Jeppe Rich, Professor at DTU Management.

“We do this because we want to be able to investigate whether people’s behaviour changes throughout the experiment and assess the long-term potential of the self-driving shuttle. In particular, we want to investigate the behaviour of passengers in relation to waiting time, driving comfort, departure times, and how weather plays into their choice of transport on campus.”

In addition, Roskilde University will look into what passengers think of the new mode of transport and how they move in and around the self-driving shuttle buses.

App provides accurate responses from users
Test passengers will be asked to download an app to use in connection with the test. The app was developed by DTU Compute in collaboration with IBM. It will show the shuttle buses’ location on campus and when they depart. At the same time, the researchers are using the app to collect data on the behaviour and movement patterns of test passengers in connection with their use of the three shuttles.

The special thing about the app is that it combines well-known technologies in a new way—among other things running and health apps with elements from traffic research.

“We’re taking the app one step further than other people. It’s not just a tracking app where we can see how many have taken the self-driving shuttle bus. We can actually use it as a tool and integrate it with a questionnaire. Using Bluetooth beacons, we can analyse data more accurately while passengers are on the bus. Hopefully, this can give us even more detailed insight into their transport patterns,” says Per Bækgaard, Associate Professor at DTU Compute.

In addition to DTU and RUC, Albertslund Municipality, Gladsaxe Municipality, Nobina Danmark A/S, IBM Danmark ApS, and Gate 21 are behind LINC. The project is also open to cooperation with other research groups or student projects.