Berlin – They have technology that is designed to recognize hazards and prevent collisions. Highly automated vehicles were conceived to increase road safety. But now one of these vehicles was involved in an accident in Berlin. A self-driving electric minibus collided with a taxi in Tegel. The police confirmed this to the Berliner Zeitung on request.
“On Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. there was a collision between two parallel vehicles at the junction with Berliner Straße and Am Tegeler Hafen in Tegel,” said a police spokesman. “This resulted in property damage to the self-driving minibus and the other car. People were not injured. “
Investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing
The Berliner Zeitung learned that there was no passenger in the sun-yellow minibus. “There was only slight damage to our shuttle,” summarized Jannes Schwentu, spokesman for the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG). The vehicle has been in use again since Wednesday morning.
Neither the police nor the BVG commented on how the collision came about. “The investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing,” said the police spokesman. A taxi driver who was out and about in Tegel summarized the event as follows: “Autonomous bus crashes against a taxi from KW” – Königs Wusterhausen. A photo on Facebook shows the electric minibus, the wheels of which appear to be turned to the left. To his left is the taxi that apparently drove straight ahead.
A maximum of three passengers are allowed
In Tegel, the state of Berlin, the BVG and other partners want to test out on public roads whether vehicles of this type would be suitable for Berlin’s local transport. “Automated and networked driving can be part of the solution to urban mobility problems,” says the agency for electromobility. “The aim is to use highly automated minibuses across the board in the future, for example to better develop residential areas on the outskirts of Berlin and to connect them to the existing local transport,” explained the BVG. Even if the technology is still being developed, highly automated vehicles are considered safe compared to vehicles that are controlled by humans. Accidents are rarely reported.
The federally funded research project began in 2019 as a “lake mile”. The 1.2 kilometer long circuit, which begins in the street Am Tegeler Hafen, operates today as route 328A. After a corona-related interruption, operations continued in June 2021 – as part of the Shuttles & Co. research project, which has now been extended to summer 2022. Another circuit was added with line 328B, which opens up a residential area from Alt-Tegel.
The fleet consists of three highly automated electric minibuses from the French manufacturer Easymile, the batteries of which are charged in the Tegel fire station. The Stromer, which is less than four meters long, is approved for a top speed of 18 kilometers per hour and currently for a maximum of three passengers. A supervisor is on board for every trip to ensure safety. One of the EZ10 Gen3 vehicles was involved in the collision on line 328A.
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