New Scientific Article: Real-Time Abnormal Event Detection for Enhanced Security in Autonomous Shuttles Mobility Infrastructures

Abstract: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are already operating on the streets of many countries around the globe. Contemporary concerns about AVs do not relate to the implementation of fundamental technologies, as they are already in use, but are rather increasingly centered on the way that such technologies will affect emerging transportation systems, our social environment, and the people living inside it. Many concerns also focus on whether such systems should be fully automated or still be partially controlled by humans. This work aims to address the new reality that is formed in autonomous shuttles mobility infrastructures as a result of the absence of the bus driver and the increased threat from terrorism in European cities. Typically, drivers are trained to handle incidents of passengers’ abnormal behavior, incidents of petty crimes, and other abnormal events, according to standard procedures adopted by the transport operator. Surveillance using camera sensors as well as smart software in the bus will maximize the feeling and the actual level of security. In this paper, an online, end-to-end solution is introduced based on deep learning techniques for the timely, accurate, robust, and automatic detection of various petty crime types. The proposed system can identify abnormal passenger behavior such as vandalism and accidents but can also enhance passenger security via petty crimes detection such as aggression, bag-snatching, and vandalism. The solution achieves excellent results across different use cases and environmental conditions.

Real-Time Abnormal Event Detection for Enhanced Security in Autonomous Shuttles Mobility Infrastructures
Dimitris Tsiktsiris, Nikolaos Dimitriou, Antonios Lalas, Minas Dasygenis, Konstantinos Votis, Dimitrios Tzovaras
Journal: Sensors
Date: 1 September 2020, DOI: 10.3390/s20174943
Download: Publisher’s version (Gold Open Access)

Video: Holo’s self-driving bus in Copenhagen’s Nordhavn district

As part of the EU-funded H2020 AVENUE Project, Holo offers a self-driving bus in Copenhagen’s Nordhavn district. The route of 6 stops around Århusgade will be operating between August 2020-April 2022. Hop on the 100% electric autonomous shuttle on weekdays, 10 AM to 5 PM, absolutely free of charge! Check out the H2020 AVENUE Autonomous Shuttle route in Nordhavn, Copenhagen here:

Announcement: Holo launching autonomous minibus in Nordhavn, Copenhagen on 3rd of August!

AVENUE Project partner Holo will be launching an autonomous minibus in Nordhavn, Copenhagen on 3rd of August! The citizens of Copenhagen can hop on the offered route with 6 stops on weekdays between 10 and 17!

Annoucement: Holo has just completed the commissioning of sustainable transport platform in Nordhavn, Copenhaven

Parallel with Luxembourg, Geneva and Lyon, Copenhagen brings self-driving mobility solutions of the future to its citizens! Within the framework of AVENUE Project, our partner Holo has just completed the commissioning of sustainable transport platform in Nordhavn, a district focused on sustainability and innovation. Right from the beginning of August 2020, self-driving minibus will be rolling in the seafront area of Nordhavn, providing safe and sustainable mobility for the citizens of Copenhagen.

Read more about this exciting achievement, as well as about the offered route: https://www.letsholo.com/nordhavn

Video: Testing phase of the very first on-demand, door-to-door test scenario of autonomous vehicles in Geneva

Watch and share our freshly published video by our partner MobileThinking SARL from the testing phase of the very first on-demand, door-to-door test scenario of autonomous vehicles of the Avenue Project at Belle-idée Pilot Site in Geneva, Switzerland operated by TPG Public Transport of Geneva. We are all excited and proud for this innovative piloting phase!

Event: AVENUE @ 5th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility (CSUM 2020)

On the 18th of June 2020, Eliane Horschutz Nemoto (HS PF) presented H2020 AVENUE project and the work conducting in the framework of this project at the 5th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility (CSUM 2020)

More info can be found at http://csum.civ.uth.gr

Press Release: Green light for the launch of automated vehicles providing an on-demand service at the Belle-Idée site (HUG)

Geneva Public Transport (tpg) has reached an important milestone in the AVENUE project. On 3 June 2020, they received formal authorization from the Secretary-General of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) to operate autonomous shuttles on a hospital site located in Thônex in the canton of Geneva.

Already with the benefit of experience in this field with the operation of the XA line in Meyrin since 2018 with autonomous vehicles, tpg will deploy this experimental project on the private site of the clinic of Belle-Idée, in partnership with the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). The objective is to develop a new generation of on-demand transport services, which are requested via an “application”, and which transports the customer from door to door (shared autonomous public transport). This project represents an opportunity for the HUG to experiment an innovative local transport solution which will be very useful to patients and visitors of the psychiatric and geriatric hospitals (Hôpital des Trois-Chêne), as well as to the personnel working on the site.

An ambitious partnership supported by the European Union

In 2018, the University of Geneva (UNIGE) was chosen to lead the European consortium AVENUE (Autonomous Vehicles to Evolve to a New Urban Experience), alongside tpg and the State of Geneva. The roadmap for this collaborative research project aims to identify the needs and motivation of future users, to face the technological challenges, to update legislation for the use of automated vehicles, as well as to develop business models capable of making this new mode of transport viable, thus contributing to the development of sustainable urban mobility plans.

The AVENUE consortium thus intends to prepare for the technical, legislative and economic integration of the autonomous vehicles in the urban space. These represent a promising solution for the future. With a budget of EUR 20 million over four years, of which 15.6 million are funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme of the European Union, the AVENUE project brings together 16 partners from across the continent, including five Swiss partners and involves separate experimental projects in Geneva, Copenhagen, Luxembourg, Lyon and Oslo.

In addition to the four players mentioned above, we find in the Swiss consortium MobileThinking, a start-up company of the University of Geneva specialising in mobile application development, and Bestmile, a company created at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and active in fleet management of autonomous vehicles.

Several steps planned

Initially, two vehicles of the Navya Autonom Shuttle type, identical to the one of the Meyrin site (autonomous electric vehicle with a capacity of 15 persons), will be put in service on the Belle-Idée site. The tpg plans to integrate them from the end of June 2020 on half of the planned route in order to carry out tests (blank runs) and make the necessary adjustments. By the end of August, they should be able to engage the shuttles on the whole road network within Belle-Idée, without imposing fixed routes and stops. This will then make it possible to field-test a new type of on-demand service whose deployment is conceivable in the long term.

For more information:
François Mutter, spokesman of Geneva Public Transport (tpg)
+41 22 308 31 60 / +41 79 694 49 44 – mutter.francois@tpg.ch

Roland Godel, spokesman of the Infrastructure Department at the State of Geneva
+41 78 802 90 07 – roland.rg.godel@etat.ge.ch

For more details see our deliverable describing the Geneva sites.

Press Release: The long road to getting AVs on the streets of Denmark

The legal framework for pilot projects with autonomous vehicles in Denmark stepped into force three years ago. Here’s our operator experiences so far.

To this date, only one project has been on the streets in Denmark, while two other approvals have been given. In the practical implementation of the law, a great number of barriers have appeared.

Event: The 5th AVENUE General Meeting

On the 14th and 15th of May 2020, our 5th Plenary was a success! PT operators willingness to deploy autonomous vehicles technologies remains intact! In fact COVID-19 measures pave the way for on-demand D2D highly personalised public transport services

Announcement: Holo resuming autonomous operations in Ormøya

We are back! We are restarting the demonstrators of autonomous vehicles for public transport. Our site at Ormøya is operational with 3 shuttles and max 3 passengers.

More info at: https://letsholo.com/news/resuming-autonomous-operations-in-ormya