Paris operator RATP is past talking about revolutionising the French capital’s buses. Instead, it’s made a small start on automation, and a move towards buying only low- and zero-emission examples by 2025
Forget London: Paris is Europe’s bus innovation trailblazer. Not only has RATP achieved a first for the continent with an Iveco that drives itself within depot confines, but it is pushing on with the bus2025 programme. That will see battery electric or biogas power all new purchases by 2025.
The automation project involves three parties: RATP, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, and Iveco. A 12m Urbanway hybrid has been fitted with cameras for navigation of Lagny depot, and it has five radar sensors for obstacle detection.
Lagny is a multi-level underground facility and GPS use is difficult. The on-bus control system thus includes a pre-programmed map of the depot and several distinctive murals are painted in various locations to allow the cameras to calibrate their position.
The result is a self-driving bus. Lagny is organised with numbered reverse-in parking spaces, and the Urbanway can proceed autonomously from the street access point to a number of them, and vice-versa.
As a proof-of-concept exercise, a driver is present while those manoeuvres take place. However, during a press demonstration on Monday 16 April, the Urbanway found its way to Lagny’s basement with neither fuss nor human input and parked itself perfectly between two of its sisters.
And the thinking is…
Development of a self-driving capacity is part of the EU’s European Bus System of the Future project, from where some funding has been received by RATP. It began in 2014 and the autonomous Urbanway was active within Lagny depot by September 2017. On-bus control equipment means that it is dedicated to the trial, but prior to selection it was a regular member of RATP’s fleet.
Although the Urbanway can drive itself, RATP has no aspiration to take that capability to the streets. Instead, it sees autonomy as a means of making more efficient use of the driver resource, says Project Manager Autonomous Vehicle Clément Lucchesi.
Autonomy is not yet a cost-effective alternative to humans driving buses within depots, but in time it may be. A further part of the equation is an end to damage that can occur during tricky shunting.
“Our goal was to test the feasibility of bus autonomy. We weren’t sure if it would work. Great accuracy is needed and Lagny’s underground environment is difficult, particularly the detection of obstacles on inclines.”
If in-depot automation is adopted, a further benefit could relate to engineer productivity. Instead of them having to bring buses to the workshop, they could be summoned and make their own way there.
Algorithms govern how the bus steers and positions itself. Clément adds that while autonomy would prove more difficult in an articulated bus, particularly in relation to reversing, it should be possible.
A low-emission town
Of European capitals, Paris also leads the way in the move to zero- or low-emission buses. Its thinking clashes with some of the UK’s current and developing wisdom on alternative propulsion sources in two ways.
Firstly, Paris views hybrid as a transitional technology and not part of its long-term plans. Secondly, it sees biogas as a significant player in its fleet of the future. Both of those contrast starkly with Transport for London’s most recent strategy.
Greater similarity surrounds opinions on opportunity charging. It plays no part in Paris’s transition to procuring only alternative energy buses. Instead, RATP has settled on overnight recharging. “Satisfactory operation using opportunity charging is, we believe, expensive and difficult,” says Nicolas Cartier, bus2025 Programme Director.
Opportunity charging has a further operational complexity, he adds. Paris is prone to congestion just as UK cities are, and buses often depart terminals immediately after arriving. Opportunity charging would prevent that from happening in some circumstances, affecting service reliability.
Infrastructure challenge
RATP is focused on getting battery electric buses into service. It already has 74 of them, and they are proving successful. On route 341, they have replaced diesel counterparts on a one-for-one basis.
The procurement of battery electric buses is not the most difficult part of its efforts. 17 of RATP’s 25 depots will eventually be converted to electric-only and the logistics of doing that will be challenging.
“Each depot will need up to 12MW of power and we will also need to provide charging points without reducing capacity. It will take two years to complete the necessary work. The issue while it is taking place is where we park the displaced buses,” says Nicolas. When work is complete, battery electric buses’ lower maintenance requirements are expected to allow a 20% reduction in engineer headcount.
What is clear is that RATP is serious about transforming Paris’s buses. Tellingly, it is also getting on and doing it, and not wasting its time complying with pointless mayoral soundbites.
Procurement of 1,000 battery electric buses will start soon, and manufacturers will be required to guarantee their batteries for up to eight years. Couple that to RATP’s efforts in automation and Paris is, perhaps, already well along a path that its peers should be seeking to follow.
