SSAB : alGO Bus project

SSAB has provided Docol Tubes to Finnish start-up company Sensible 4 for an autonomous alGo Bus project. aIGO project pilots urban shared autonomous mobility in all weather conditions. Project started in September 2017, when also co-operation with SSAB started, and the bus will be launched end of year 2018. Sensible 4 is aiming in setting Finland as hotbed of shared autonomous mobility by working together with Public-Private-People (PPP) partners. aIGO project is funded by AIKO funding with Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council and Growth Corridor Finland.

'Common challenges for an autonomous vehicle are other traffic and weather conditions. In the Nordics we have it all: snow, fog and heavy rain. We have developed the best in the world vehicle automation system for difficult environments. Positioning and navigation will be guaranteed in all conditions; our technology won't freeze at the first snow fall. Sensible 4 automation system has been tested in harsh Finnish winter conditions and it's based on tens of years of research and on multiple outdoor mobile robot applications', tells Harri Santamala, CEO, Sensible4. 'Our autonomous driving system has been developed particularly for shared and public transport, because we see shared automated vehicle fleets of autonomous shuttlebuses and microtaxis as the next revolution of urban mobility.

SSAB has delivered mainly Docol Tubes for the project. Docol 780 and Docol 980 tubes have been delivered in square and circular shapes. Also Strenx 700 tubes have been delivered for the bottom parts of the frame. There is lot of circular shapes in the steel frame of the bus, which requires good bendability on the precision tube. Total weight of the bus is only 2 000 kg, which makes it necessary to minimize the weight of the steel tubes as much as possible. Thanks to the high strength steel tubes, it was possible to minimize the weight of the frame. Cutting has been done by Putkilaser.
The visual looks of the bus will not be revealed until the launch, but the bus will have place for 14 passengers: 10 seats and 4 places for standing. The bus is designed to drive on one direction, but since all the tires are turnable, the bus could be operating on 2-ways.

Sensible 4 started piloting in May in Finland. Piloting areas are Vantaa, Espoo and Hämeenlinna. Renault Twizy was chosen as test platform, because the team of Sensible4 believes that the future of urban mobility is in autonomous shared mobility, such as light electric vehicles. The autonomous car will be open for public in August in piloting areas in Finland.