Can Driverless Cars Solve “Last Mile” Challenge and Spur Train Usage?

So here’s an interesting question: Could driverless cars increase train travel and other efficient means of commuting?

In Germany, which has one of the most developed transportation systems in the world, the “last mile” of a commute — getting from train or bus to home or business, remains a formidable challenge.

Last week however, railway and logistics firm Deutsche Bahn announced a possible solution involving self-driving cars.

According to a report in Fortune magazine, the company plans to operate fleets of autonomous vehicles that could be ordered via an app, similar to Uber. They would collect people from their homes and drop them at public transit systems. Interestingly, these plans fit expert predictions that in the future “mobility on demand will be the key.”

In an interview in German newspaper WirtschaftsWoche, company boss Rüdiger Grube said that automated driving is a big project for Deutsche Bahn.

The main focus of the company, trains, are also set to make use of automated driving technology. Grube has outlined plans to develop ways for trains to be managed from a control center, rather than by a driver. “The role of the train driver and the train controller will increasingly merge in the future,” he said. This could however take one to two decades.

Category: Connected Fleet News, Green, Transit News