According to the statement made today, the autonomous e-ATAK has become the first driverless public transportation vehicle that can pass through a tunnel in Europe.
The official statement made by Karsan on this subject was as follows:: “Karsan, which pioneers the transformation of public transportation in the world, especially in Europe, with its vision of being “One Step Ahead in the Future of Mobility”, continues to break new ground. Karsan, which has shaped its investment strategy in this field by foreseeing the electric transformation in public transportation, continues to strengthen its leading position in the sector. The transformation movement, which started with the e-JEST, the company’s first fully electric model introduced in 2018, was taken to another dimension with the Autonomous e-ATAK, which hit the roads at the beginning of 2021. Karsan has achieved another first with the Autonomous e-ATAK, the industry’s first vehicle with Level 4 Autonomous technology. Autonomous e-ATAK, which became the first vehicle to provide autonomous ticketed passenger transportation within the city for the first time in Europe, has updated its route in Stavanger, Norway, where it has been serving since 2022. Autonomous e-ATAK, which has achieved another important milestone with its high mapping technology, expanded its existing route in the city of Stanvager and started to pass through the 800 meter long tunnel.
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Karsan Otonom e-ATAK, which started to serve on an even more difficult route with intersections and traffic lights, became the first driverless public transportation vehicle to pass through the tunnel in Europe. Stating that Karsan is shaping the future of transportation with the innovative products it has developed, Karsan CEO Okan Baş said, “We have achieved an important milestone with the high mapping technology of autonomous e-ATAK. We extended our existing route in Stanvager with traffic lights, junctions and a tunnel.
Tunnels are a very challenging test for autonomous vehicles due to limited signals and lighting. We passed this exam perfectly with Otonom e-ATAK. This made Karsan Otonom e-ATAK the first and only autonomous public transportation vehicle to pass through the tunnel in Europe. “With this important success, we have achieved yet another milestone in the Turkish automotive industry, and at the same time, we have once again demonstrated our company’s pioneering and leading position in the field of autonomous transportation.”
Tunnels, which are one of the most challenging tests for driverless vehicles that detect their surroundings with various sensors, can be isolated from mobile networks or GPS signals with their difficult conditions such as limited GPS signal and limited lighting. In this case, driverless vehicles have difficulty collecting accurate and reliable data. A vehicle passing through the tunnel loses its location because it cannot communicate with the satellite. When driverless vehicles cannot find or lose their position in tunnel passages, the vehicle may become unable to move autonomously because it cannot communicate with the outside world.
Karsan Otonom e-ATAK, which has the ability to pass through tunnels without a driver by optimizing the route, stands out as the first and only driverless vehicle in Europe that can complete this task. Karsan Otonom e-ATAK has many LiDAR sensors located in different parts of the vehicle. In addition, many innovative technologies such as advanced radar technology at the front, high-resolution image processing with RGB cameras, and extra environmental security thanks to thermal cameras are among the features of Autonomous e-Atak. Autonomous e-Atak, which can offer all these technologies as Level 4 Autonomous, can move driverless on a planned route.
The vehicle, which can accelerate to 50 km/h in autonomous driving in all weather conditions, day or night, is what a bus driver does; “It performs all operations such as approaching the stops on the route, managing the alighting and boarding processes, providing dispatch and management at intersections, crossings and traffic lights, etc., without a driver.”