Report on the developments of automated mobility in Austria

AustriaTech, in its role as the Contact Point Automated Mobility in Austria annually, publishes a report “Automated Mobility in Austria”, which provides information on developments, projects and activities. Following two brief examples taken from the report addressing Digital Infrastructure and Learning and Testing in Austria, show current activities in Austria.

Digital Infrastructure

Different activities regarding automated and connected driving demonstrate that digital infrastructure has high potential to increase safety and efficiency of transport.

Therefore, the ASFINAG (Austrian motorway operator) network is equipped with a variety of sensors to measure data such as temperature, number of vehicles or visibility. For the purpose of research and the support of automated and connected vehicles, even more sensors were installed along a 23-kilometer test route, which allow for example to record travel data as accurate as possible.

Learning and testing in Austria

In June 2019, the test operation of two driverless e-buses with passenger transport was successfully launched in Vienna. A trained operator is on board monitoring each journey of the two-kilometre route. One focus lied on testing the C-ITS communication between the buses and traffic light systems as well as novel collision warning systems in live operation.

In September 2019 the project Digibus® Austria, successfully ran a test with an  EasyMile’s automated shuttle without an operator being on board. This was the second driverless test worldwide with a self-propelled shuttle monitored by a person from an outside control centre.

The annual Austrian report on automated mobility is available in German; an English summary is available in the AustriaTech news section.