Denna nyhet är äldre än 6 månader och är kanske inte aktuell längre.
“These autonomous buses function almost like taxis and you will be able to call them via an app,” Sandra Öster says. She competes for the University of Gävle when the Podcar City Contest comes to Sweden.
David Sundholm Sandra Öster Oliwer Fontaeus
Three students from the programme in spatial planning at the University of Gävle, David Sundholm, Sandra Öster och Oliwer Fontaeus, will attempt to defend last year’s gold medal from Las Vegas, when the international Podcar City Contest for the development of sustainable cities now comes to Sweden.
David Sundholm and Sandra Öster are third-year students in the programme in spatial planning and they make up one of the competing teams.
They have developed an app for the use of autonomous buses in Gävle Strand. It is important that autonomous buses’ noise levels are even possibly low enough to make it conceivable to build housing in the warehouse area.
“These autonomous buses function almost like taxis; they are quite small and only take 8 passengers at a time and you will be able to call them via an app. In our view, they will reduce traffic and noise levels,” Sandra Öster says.
“There are no stores in Gävle Strand and these small buses offer a convenient solution for people living in the area. Our solution makes it easier to encourage people to walk more and to use these buses instead of taking the car,” David adds.
Oliwer Fontaeus enjoyed acting as a consultant with his own project. He worked on a solution for transporting students between Campus Sätra and the University Campus: an autonomous podcar to replace the buses. He points out that an autonomous podcar is already in use on the campus of Chalmers in Gothenburg.
“Yesterday evening I was thinking of going to Sätra, but the buses stop running at 10 pm. If you are on campus studying you don’t want a lack of transport to hold you back, and many people do not want to ride a bicycle around midnight on a winter’s night. My solution gives you the opportunity to click on the app and call for a bus to take you home.”
Oliwer appreciates seeing for himself what working at a future workplace could be like.
Jakob Nobuoka, programme director for the programme in spatial planning, says that it is a good opportunity for the students to engage with the business sector, to see what kind of work you can do after graduation and how different countries tackle traffic problems.
“The contest involves a visualisation of city environments and the writing of a report. Our programme gives students a very good basis, in theory as well as in practice, so our students are high in demand on the job market,” Jakob Nobuoka says.
Autonomous car in Las Vegas. Photography by
Autonomous car in Las Vegas. Photography by Pontus Gustafsson
Podcar City Conference is an annual international conference on sustainable transportation with a focus on autonomous buses and cars, and participants come from all over the world. Its location alternates between the US and Europe and now it comes to Gävle and the Gasometers 10 – 12 October. It contains the student contest Urban International Design Contest.
The three-days long contest involves cooperation between a team of students from a University and a city with the aim to design a sustainable city plan with autonomous public transit. Cities from all over the world participate. This year participating teams come from the US, Australia, Africa and Sweden. There will also be a fair at the Gasometers.
Jakob Nobuoka, programme director for the programme in spatial planning at the University in iGävle
Phone: 073-944 37 43
E-mail: jakob.nobuoka@hig.se
Text: Douglas Öhrbom
Photo: Marie Hägg
