First 3D-printed autonomous shuttles launched at Yellowstone National Park

[Sir Asvald]

 

An autonomous shuttle program has been launched at Yellowstone National Park in the USA. The TEDDY (The Electric Driverless Demonstration in Yellowstone) project, named in honor of Teddy Roosevelt, will enable the National Park Service (NPS) to test the feasibility and sustainability of autonomous mobility and better plan for the future of transportation.

 

 

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TEDDY has been developed by Beep, a provider of multi-passenger, electric, autonomous mobility solutions in partnership with Local Motors, a leader in the design and manufacturing of autonomous vehicles, which will be providing services aboard its Olli vehicle – the world’s first 3D-printed autonomous vehicle.

 

“Beep is proud to have been selected by the National Park Service to provide transformative mobility at the country’s first national park,” says Joe Moye, Beep CEO. “Our safety-centric approach is a vital component in our planning, management and oversight of the operation to ensure we are providing visitors with a safe and sustainable mode of transport while enjoying the park. Our team spent several weeks onsite leading up to the start of the program conducting rigorous route testing, as well as training first responders and frontline workers in order to protect and preserve all that Yellowstone has to offer.”

 

 

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Beep provided the full turnkey solution for the project by planning, managing and deploying with the NPS. Up to August 31, Beep will enable two routes, seven days a week at Yellowstone, collecting vital information such as ridership, route optimization and overall vehicle operations. Learnings and data gathered will help inform potential future deployments in national parks across the country.

 

TEDDY will be navigating through the Canyon Village area of Yellowstone National Park through the peak summer season, with the Lodge Route operating from June 9 to July 12 and Campground Route from July 14 to August 31. Both routes will deliver a safe, unique rider experience.

 

Images of the the Shuttles:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My thoughts

I think this is an awesome way of creating cool stuff and of course helping the environment! I hope Teddy and Olli a successful career! (hopefully no damage to them will occur) 

 

Sources

https://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/news/autonomous-vehicles/first-3d-printed-autonomous-shuttles-launched-at-yellowstone-national-park.html

[Roswell]

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Our team spent several weeks onsite leading up to the start of the program conducting rigorous route testing

Oh yeah, autonomous vehicles with whopping WEEKS of testing before tossing in passengers. 
 

Sounds like a blast!

[Beerzerker]

The burning question is.....
Who wants to be first to ride in one of these?

Not I.

[Sir Asvald]

8 minutes ago, Roswell said:

Oh yeah, autonomous vehicles with whopping WEEKS of testing before tossing in passengers. 
 

Sounds like a blast!

I volunteer as tribute. 

[StDragon]

43 minutes ago, Roswell said:

Sounds like a blast!

That's nothing. Wait until that supervolcano goes off. 

[Sir Asvald]

40 minutes ago, StDragon said:

That's nothing. Wait until that supervolcano goes off. 

It'll be a blast, won't it?  

[BuckGup]

They probably have an extensive model of the whole park so these in theory should only have to do things like object avoidance which we've been good at since 2005

[Fasterthannothing]

6 hours ago, Roswell said:

Oh yeah, autonomous vehicles with whopping WEEKS of testing before tossing in passengers. 
 

Sounds like a blast!

Just test in prod it will be fine they said 

[Taf the Ghost]

As a practical & technical point, there was autonomous driving cars at highway speeds in the 90s. It's really only a question of how far away from "train with tires" the devices are being used for. Which is to say it's a really fancy tram car, just without laying down rails.

 

This is a good use of limited-user interaction, EV transport. For more remote locations, battery-based EVs make a lot of sense. It's much easier to transport electricity than it is chemical fuels. So I hope the test program works, is cheap & reliable while also being safe. This was also probably doable 15 years ago, but, hey, I'm glad to see a fad doing something useful.