Solaris project looks to develop bus driving assistance system

In cooperation with Poznań University of Technology, Poland, Solaris is developing a system of assistance for drivers of city buses.

The system aims to facilitate the performance of simple and complex manoeuvres, such as driving forward and backward or parking, but it will also constitute support when carrying out precise movements, such as docking the pantograph to the charging station, which may prove challenging in the case of articulated vehicles.

In the past few weeks, the authors of the project – dubbed ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) – performed tests in front of the Municipal Stadium in Poznań. For research purposes, the Solaris R&D Department designed and installed a mobile pantograph charging mast set up on the square in front of the stadium. The firm also supplied a bus featuring the system designed and supplied by the Poznań University of Technology. The bus was said to be capable of recognising a charging mast and was able to precisely show the driver where to dock the pantograph under the charging station. 

The software enables the vehicle to concurrently self-locate and create a map of the surroundings, in order to identify other road users on that map. The system is also based on a neural network which is said to enable the system to recognise specified objects in various weather conditions.

Data transmitted from the ADAS sensors will be analysed so as to best use and fine-tune the operation of the software. The tests will also check the operation of algorithms during the docking of vehicles under a station to optimise their values. 

“The Poznań University of Technology has been our long-standing partner for the development of drive technology and of various types of systems constituting the equipment of our buses. Thanks to our close collaboration, we are able to give our customers improved, more modern solutions, essential in the everyday use of vehicles. This project will considerably ease the daily work of bus drivers, and it will allow them to perform precise, but above all safe, manoeuvres,” said Michał Pikuła, Director for Bus Development at Solaris Bus & Coach S.A.