Driverless shuttle

ESA’s technical heart will be serving as a testbed for this driverless shuttle in the coming months.

The Agency’s ESTEC establishment in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is working with vehicle owner Dutch Automated Mobility, provincial and municipal governments and bus company Arriva to assess its viability as a ‘last mile’ solution for public transport.

The fully autonomous vehicle calculates its position using a fusion of satellite navigation, lidar ‘laser radar’, visible cameras and motion sensors. Once it enters service in October it will be used to transport employees from one side of the ESTEC complex to the other.

The fully-electric, zero-emission shuttle will respect the on-site speed limit of 15 km/h, and for its first six months of service will carry a steward to observe its operation along its preprogrammed 10-minute-long roundtrip.

Come visit ESTEC during our annual ESA Open Day on Sunday 6 October. Find out more here.