Digibus

In April 2017, Salzburg Research started the first trial of a self-driving shuttle on an open road in Austria. The self-driving shuttle from the French company Navya Tech has been tested on a 1.4-kilometer long track in the village of Koppl, which is situated approximately ten kilometres east to the city of Salzburg. The trial in Koppl was one of the first trials worldwide in mixed traffic in a rural area. The focus of this trial was on the real-world evaluation of a so-called self-driving shuttle for bridging the first/last mile in public transport. The distance of 1.4 kilometres from the village centre to the next major public bus line (connection to the city of Salzburg) is a prototypical example of a first/last mile situation. Especially in rural areas closing the first/last mile with public transport services is one of the challenging questions where self-driving vehicles could play a major role in the future.