News

Happy Birthday, Route 12!

Route 12 is celebrating its first birthday: Today, exactly one year ago, the first official trip of the self-driving vehicle on Route 12 was celebrated in Neuhausen. At the same time, this marked a world first – the very first integration of a self-driving bus in the regular scheduled services of a public transport operator. A thrilling and adventurous trip into the future of mobility started on that day. The small self-driving bus became known within a very short time and is fondly remembered by many people from all corners of the world.

The first year of the pilot project may be summed up by the following facts:

•  Route 12 as a visitor attraction: People are crowding in to experience the selfdriving vehicle live. Even politicians such as the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, would not have wanted to miss a ride with this automated shuttle. Also large international TV stations such as CNN (USA), BBC (UK) and RAI UNO (Italy) were attracted to Neuhausen am Rheinfall to report on where autonomous mobility of the future is being tested. All this demonstrates that the “Route 12” project has generated enormous interest far and wide within a very short time.
• Number of passengers moved: Since going into service, Route 12 has moved over 24,000 people. This translates into an average transport rate of about 2,000 passengers a month or 70 a day. The month with the highest number of passengers was August 2018, with 3,142 people using the service. The record for a day, which was achieved on a bright sunny Saturday, 22 September 2018, was 507 passengers.
• Operating hours: Since its first trip on Route 12, the selfdriving bus had already been in service for about 1,500 hours: In the past 12 months, passengers were transported on some 330 days. This means that hardly a day passed on which Trapizio was not in service.
• Kilometres travelled: Per shift, the selfdriving bus covers roughly 13 kilometres, which means a distance of about 3 kilometres per hour. Relative to the total number of hours of service, the automated shuttle has already travelled over 4,800 kilometres.
• In service also during the wintertime: Initially, the plan was to offer regular scheduled services during the summer months only. But in the course of the project, the decision was made to drive also during the winter months. This enabled important experience to be gained also under more adverse driving conditions – it was found, for instance, how the vehicle behaves during snowfall.

AMoTech and the Swiss Transit Lab can summarise the past 12 months as a successful and exciting journey. Everyone involved in the Route 12 project may be proud of what has been achieved. Within an extremely short time, important insights have been gained, allowing a big step towards the future of mobility to be made.

The self-driving 4x4- vehicle has now arrived!

At present, the self-driving vehicle is still making its rounds in the upper route section, serving three stops there. But recently, the new 4x4 model with its two motors has arrived so that preparations for further extending the route down to the Rhine Falls can start. After being inspected by the Swiss Federal Office of Roads ASTRA and the Federal Office of Traffic BAV, and after their decrees have been received, the route down to the Rhine Falls is to be recharted and tests are to be performed. This will extend the route to the Rhine Falls with four more stops.