The world’s most advanced route for autonomous bus transport.

The Testsite Konsberg City&Lab with its ecosystem have got outstanding feedback nationally and internationally for our results of Sohjoa Baltic. Even UITP have published an article about the results and learnings achieved. It is therefore important to take this even further at a location where the Sohjoa Baltic learn can get common results with high learning potentials. We do not repeat what is done earlier, but challenge what people think is impossible.

Three years have passed since we started the initiative at Testsite Kongsberg for autonomous transport in cities, and we became a partner in The Sohjoa Baltic project. It has been a success even though we have had many challenges. We have demonstrated, piloted and developed opportunities for self-driving first-last mile minibus transport. The Public Transport Administrator (PTA) Brakar AS now runs the world’s most advanced route for autonomous bus transport, in ordinary scheduled operations in Kongsberg.

The experience of winter driving and driving in a demanding weekday life in open traffic in Kongsberg, has helped to develop even smarter technologies. On January 23, it was a seminar in Kongsberg that marked the kick-off for the next phase of development, driving completely without a host on board. The autonomous minibus drove without anyone aboard at the Church Square, relied on traffic lights, stopped at bus stops and stopped for unforeseen obstacles. The demonstration of the technology was very successful and went exactly as planned. Testsite Kongsberg is now ready to take it one step further.

One of our goals is to is to be an arena that brings out successful new solutions. One of our success factors is active sharing culture where the actors support each other and contribute to knowledge sharing and new knowledge. One example of our success is the company Applied Autonomy, which received the Buskerud County Municipal Entrepreneur Award in 2019.