Autonomous Mass-Produced Shuttle Buses to the European Market

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 are aimed to be a part of the transportation network around Europe and provide new services to people’s everyday life.

The Sharing-VAN is manufactured by Dongfeng Motors in China 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 also for example 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 the cooperation 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; and 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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Sensible 4 Oy is a Finnish self-driving tech company that has solved a major obstacle in autonomous driving, changing weather. The company develops full-stack autonomous driving software that turns any vehicle into self-driving. The unique technology combines software and information from several different sensors, enabling vehicles to operate in all weather conditions, including snowfall and fog. In 2022 it will launch the world’s first commercial all-weather software product, Dawn, for SAE level 4 driverless last-mile shuttles.

The founders of Sensible 4 have been developing autonomous vehicles since the ‘80s. In February 2020, Sensible 4 secured 7 million dollars in series A funding round from Japanese investors and the technology has won multiple awards, including 1st place in the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport 2019 competition and the Finnish Engineering Prize in 2020.

T-Engineering consists of around 100 development engineers who design and develop control systems for all vehicle systems. Our expansion is made through further recruitment of top experts from the automotive industry. Our engineers’ extensive experience makes us a safe partner, and one accustomed to leading global projects and managing the entire development process from idea and concept to validation for mass production and after-market requirements.