Autonomous Driving: Northern Munich Becomes a Test Track for Tempus

The green-red Munich city council wants to advance autonomous driving and has presented a pilot project resolution that aims to establish a test field in the northern part of the state capital and beyond its boundaries. According to the plan, automated and networked vehicles will be tested under realistic conditions as part of the research project "Tempus." The project, whose acronym stands for "Test Field Munich - Pilot Trial of Urban Automated Road Traffic," is set to start in early 2021 and continue until 2023. The competencies of twelve project partners, including TU Munich, the car manufacturer BMW, the municipal utilities, and the Free State of Bavaria, will be pooled under the city's auspices. Back in January, the SWM subsidiary MVG announced a test with an e.GO Mover from the temporarily insolvent Aachen-based startup on a limited area.

Key questions include how autonomous driving affects traffic, how safe it is, and the level of acceptance among "non-motorized" road users. For this, real-world traffic testing is essential, including autonomous public transport and automated delivery traffic. Thus, the US logistics service provider UPS is also among the partners. A prerequisite is the upgrade of infrastructure, such as with connected traffic lights.

Exploring the Opportunities of Digitalization

Apart from the potential of automation, there are also hopes to gain insights into how digitalization can contribute to easing urban traffic. To this end, real-time traffic data will be collected and integrated into the city's IT systems. However, camera surveillance is likely not an option due to cost and data protection reasons. Consideration is being given to integrating the data from navigation service providers and time-limited influences such as construction sites or accidents. All findings could then result in forecasts that would enable short-term traffic predictions. Consideration is also being given to controlling traffic lights with artificial intelligence, although the district administration department fears it could impede the right of way for public transport. Moreover, the current signal technology is not up to date to implement this technology.