Helsinki-Based Sensible 4 To Bring Self-Driving Buses to Europe

Swedish T-Engineering and Finnish Sensible 4 will continue their collaboration by bringing an autonomous Dongfeng shuttle bus called Sharing-VAN to the European market in 2022. The shuttle bus will be integrated with the first version of Sensible 4’s commercial autonomous driving software Dawn.

Finnish self-driving technology company Sensible 4 has been chosen to automate electric Dongfeng Sharing-VAN shuttle buses that Swedish T-Engineering, a subsidiary of one of the biggest Chinese automotive companies Dongfeng Motors, brings to Europe. The buses aim to be a part of the transportation network around Europe and provide new services to people’s everyday lives.

Dongfeng Motors in China manufacture the Sharing-VAN, and together T-Engineering and Sensible 4 will make the autonomous version meet the European quality and safety requirements. The two partners’ target is to bring an all-weather SAE Level 4 autonomous shuttle bus to the European market in 2022. The automotive-grade self-driving shuttle bus will not have a safety driver on board.

“We are delighted with the continuing collaboration as we see our strengths with T-Engineering supporting each other well. Swedish strong competence to renew traditional industry and Finnish software engineering knowledge combined with strong Chinese manufacturing history. We believe it is a big step for the whole autonomous driving scene to bring this high-quality, mass-produced shuttle bus to the European market”, comments Harri Santamala, CEO of Sensible 4.

The Sensible 4 autonomous driving software has been tested continuously in Nordic weather conditions and piloted in Sweden and Norway. The Sharing-VAN shuttle bus will be driven by the first version of Sensible 4’s commercial all-weather autonomous driving software Dawn, which will be launched in 2022 in selected sites in Europe. 

“We are excited to continue cooperating with Sensible 4 and take the next steps to make the Sharing-VAN successful in Europe. The vehicles will operate not only in sunny and ideal conditions but in Nordic winter climate as well. For that, the Sensible 4 autonomous driving kit Dawn is a great match”, comments Sebastian Wallman, Manager Future Mobility of T-Engineering.

T-Engineering and Sensible 4 have been collaborating since 2018, when Sensible 4 retrofitted the Dongfeng Fengxing CM7 vehicle. The autonomous CM7 drove as a part of the FABULOS project pilot in Helsinki, Finland, last summer and later in Stockholm, Sweden.

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