On 22 May 2014, Lindholmen Science Park (LSP) organized the workshop “Automation of the Transport System”, with representatives from both private and public sectors.
The aim was to provide inputs to an innovation agenda for automated vehicles on which LSP is currently working.
In the morning, invited guests introduced the current context and relevant activities in different parts of the world.
A series of other lectures focussed on the Swedish situation as summarized below:
Håkan Jansson and Hans G. Petterson from the Ministry of Transport clarified that the automation of transport involves both technological and social development. Automation will therefore take time, but it may be that certain types of vehicles will be automated faster than others. In the near term , the gradual automation of vehicle functions is the focus, rather than automation of the entire vehicle. Stefan Myhrberg Ericsson unveiled the roadmap for connected and collaborative transport developed by a number of Swedish organizations. The so-called Digital Infrastructure was presented as a critical part for the future of transport and pilot testing should begin immediately. Responsible authorities and private organizations need to work together to agree on their roles before starting acting on the roadmap. Marcus Rothoff from Volvo Cars described how automated vehicles will change our society. It is therefore important to understand and plan how automated vehicles can be deployed. The Drive Me project is considered as an enabler to define how our automated future will look like. Marcus also highlighted the Administration ‘s role and plans regarding the optimisation of the infrastructure. Per Öhgren and Jonas Malm of the Swedish Transport Agency reported on a preliminary study linked to automated driving and legal aspects. Preliminary results show that there is room in today’s traffic laws for testing vehicles with a higher degree of automation (equivalent NHTSAs Level 3). Vehicle Legislation and ultimately the driver’s permit rules and liability rules may need to be adjusted.
During the afternoon, group discussions sought to clarify the areas in which Sweden should invest as world leader, what it takes to get there and how to secure the maximum return on their efforts. For example:
Focus on system perspective, urban planning, independent evaluations in “Nordic ” weather conditions, traffic and overall traffic safety, business models, etc. Create spaces for information exchange, build infrastructure that allows different types of tests (including system level). Be more active in EU collaboration, share knowledge and visions to society in a more structured way , taking into account the socio-political overall goals, etc. Increase leverage by working with complete transportation, talk to each other, to develop knowledge of the actual societal benefits, participate in EU cooperation to push Swedish views, etc.
(Text and information provided by Azra Habibovic)
