Autonomous shuttle named

A highly autonomous self-driving shuttle has entered service at ESA’s technical heart. Its official inauguration took place on Tuesday, when it was assigned a suitably spacey name – ‘Orbiter’ – chosen through an employee competition.

The Agency’s ESTEC establishment in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is being used as a testbed for the automated shuttle, to assess its viability as a ‘last mile’ solution for public transport.

ESTEC was selected because it is a controlled private environment with the same cars, bikes, pedestrians and roundabouts found on public roads – the shuttle is able to operate in mixed traffic.