Smart mobility through the eyes of an expert supervisor, Prof. Dr. Ing. Zdeněk Peroutka, Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and Director of RICE (the Research and Innovation Centre for Electrical Engineering).
Smart mobility is one of the five specializations of the Pilsen Region, which has been historically involved in technologies related to this field, is that right? However, cars have never been manufactured here, even though the company Laurin a Klement was part of Škoda. (The Škoda engineering company bought it in 1925, giving rise to today’s Škoda Auto manufacturer, but it was never based in Pilsen, always in Mladá Boleslav. Author’s note)
Pilsen has a unique infrastructure and tradition, resting both in the local transport industry and in the university, with its experience in research and development of technologies for transport equipment. Pilsen’s domain is mainly traction vehicles, whether wheeled or rail-based. We encounter and use trolleybuses, trams, underground trains, suburban units, locomotives, etc. made in Pilsen every day. You mentioned the automotive industry, and Pilsen’s involvement in it during the First Republic. This question relates directly to my family history, because before World War II, Škoda, together with my great-grandfather, Mr Dezort, developed co-operation with Laurin and Klement. My great-grandfather made coachwork for Laurin and Klement in Pilsen. To this day, a part of the Škoda factory is called ‘At the Dezorts’ after my great-grandfather. Although it’s not well known, the Pilsen Škoda factory in Ejpovice developed and manufactured electric cars – and not bad ones at all. However, transport technology in Pilsen is not just traction vehicles and cars or trucks. Our teams are also intensely working on technologies for the shipping industry.
Electrification is also a major trend in the aerospace industry today. Therefore, a large part of our work concerns technologies for electrified (i.e. hybrid and fully electric) aircraft and aerial vehicles. We supply technologies from our university laboratories to partners around the world. Pilsen is also unique in another respect. In 1965, my predecessors, in particular, Professor Kule, were at the birth of a joint workplace of the University of West Bohemia (UWB) in Pilsen – at that time, the University of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, specifically the Faculty of Electrical Engineering – and Škoda Works, focused on electric drives and power electronics. This year marks exactly 60 years since the establishment of this department, which was responsible for the development and industrial use of power semiconductor technologies, barely twenty years after Shockley and his team discovered the transistor in Bell’s laboratories. We have an enormous base for transport equipment and technologies in the field of power electronics and electric drives in Pilsen, which the whole world could be jealous of.
The first autonomous tram in Pilsen, fitted with advanced cameras and sensors, started its test operation just outside the UWB campus in Bory last July, right? It was designed by students of Jan Korabečný, at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, which is part of the UWB, am I right?
Your question mixes several things together. There are at least two independent projects in Pilsen dealing with autonomous trams. One of the projects involved an ambitious autonomous slow drive in the turn loop in Kaplířova Street. It’s not in operation yet. The other one, which we are collaborating on with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, and the Pilsen City Transport Company, concerns autonomous taxiing at the terminals or at the depot. This is for the manipulation of vehicles, in this case trams. These autonomous runs spare the driver’s attention and reduce fatigue. This technology is already in operation, and we’ve had successful initial tests in the Pilsen tram depot.
The topics of electromobility and autonomous mobility resonate strongly in our society, and they’re certainly challenging and significant. New technologies also require experts who can work with them adequately. That is why the UWB (under the auspices of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, in co-operation with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Applied Sciences, and the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Art and Design) has opened a new Master’s degree programme called “Electromobility and Intelligent Transport Systems”. Students started to enrol in September, and we believe that this will be an interesting offer for students who want to get involved in modern and planet-friendly transport technologies. The programme has three specializations: (i) system engineer and designer, (ii) construction engineer and designer, (iii) specialist in modelling, planning, and transport management. The study programme also focuses strongly on autonomous mobility. For example, in co-operation with the Škoda plant in Mladá Boleslav, along with our partners from the Technical University of Ostrava and Autinno, we’ve prepared two unique platforms, based on the Škoda Superb car, on which our students can try out, develop, and test their original solutions for autonomous driving. Moreover, students can join our successful student electric formula team. One of the disciplines of the formula championship is, among other things, autonomous driving along a marked-out racetrack.
We now come to the topic of autonomous vehicles, which raises a number of fundamental ethical and philosophical questions. How does an autonomous vehicle make a decision in a situation where, one way or another, someone loses their life? Who will be held responsible for any accidents and deaths? What’s your opinion? And is it actually realistic for an autonomous tram with passengers to run through Pilsen in ten years’ time?
Again, I’d break this down into several issues. You ask me about the safety aspects and, let’s say, the philosophical and legal aspects of autonomous mobility. Asimov’s laws of robotics define how autonomous machines are to behave. It’s very difficult to find an optimal solution to the accident problem, where the question arises of what the optimal solution actually is. Any decision about the life of a living entity – and now we’re not just talking about a human being – always has a strong ethical dimension, and a machine will find it very difficult to decide this problem ‘objectively’. We’ll have to establish the rules and priorities by which the machine will behave. We must clearly answer the question of who will be responsible for any incident, or for any damage to health or property that may occur. There’s a debate about whether a machine can be a driver of a vehicle, and whether the machine is then responsible for any incident, or whether the person who programmed the machine is responsible for the incident, and so on, and so forth. This is a very complex issue, which is not only being addressed by engineers, but it is also a legal issue and, essentially, a philosophical one. The technical part of your question will be easier for me to answer.
Autonomous vehicles need to be distinguished by type. Autonomous cars – and it depends on what level of autonomy – are a very challenging task. Conventional vehicles on wheels, such as public transport vehicles, i.e. electric buses and trolleybuses that move in an unprotected corridor, fall into the same class. This means that they enter an intersection where anyone can enter. There are no barriers in the space in which these vehicles move, and the trajectory of their movement can be free. With this class of autonomous vehicles, I’m sceptical that they will be in use in the next few years. We’re talking at least a decade to get these types of vehicles in service for the general user. As far as means of transport that move in a dedicated corridor, or a restricted access corridor, as we are used to, for example, in an airplane that travels in places where a pedestrian or a child can rarely get in its way. It’s similar with ships or rolling stock, where you have a known trajectory, and in many cases, you may have a protected corridor – typically, with the underground or commuter trains. For rolling stock, the autonomous driving system is called automatic train operation (ATO), and it’s a relatively common component that we see in everyday operation today.
So, can you imagine that in ten years, for example, tram number four would go through Pilsen from Borský Park, and go all the way to the terminal?
It will depend on whether we create a protected corridor, i.e. whether we will be able to prevent any road user from getting into the vehicle’s lane. I intentionally say “road user” because it could be a cyclist, a pedestrian, a car driver, a child, but it could also be an animal or an object. I believe that autonomous systems in places where we can protect the corridor will be in common use within ten years.
I can think of glass corridors that are likely to be installed on a new underground line.
There’s no reason not to go autonomous there. That is a task that has already been accomplished.
Listening to you, it makes me think that we people are afraid of autonomous vehicles because we don’t want the vehicle to think on its own, how to resolve a situation. At the same time, you say, and it makes sense to me, that we need to protect the corridor so that a pedestrian doesn’t jump in the way… Ironically, the machine may be ‘less dangerous’. The vast majority of accidents are caused by humans, it’s not so much about technical glitches or other circumstances.
Your question is directed at whether traffic will be safer when vehicles are autonomously controlled, and their behaviour more predictable than when a human is behind the wheel. Yes, it will be 100% more legible and safer with a machine behind the wheel. Of course, we will have to ensure adequate safety measures – critical systems must be safe (redundant, etc.), software must meet strict safety standards (SIL), everything must be thoroughly tested, etc. Under these conditions, the vehicle is likely to behave more predictably and safely than with a driver behind the wheel. The driver may be distracted, may have a health condition, etc. Autonomous driving can therefore prevent many tragedies.
Let me ask about the Green Deal, or the current situation in Europe and around the world. Where do you think we’re heading? What’s your prediction, your opinion on future developments?
One thing is the long-term goal and the intention, that’s where I understand what Europe is trying to do. It wants to set an example, and show how we should behave as humanity, as a continent. The problem is whether ’re technically ready, and have the resources to fulfil such a vision. Europe should make meaningful decisions! The sustainability of our environment is an important aspect that should always be considered. On the other hand, we need to take into account the economic capacity of the population, the level of technology, and we should find a reasonable compromise within which, on the one hand, society does not harm itself in terms of its health and the environment, and, on the other, is able to operate and live freely. By society, I mean not only the population, but also the industry and economy of individual countries. I think that the Green Deal is pushing society in Europe somewhere where we are going to pay very dearly for this.
Electric cars – very often confused with electromobility – are a beautiful example. Electromobility certainly doesn’t only stand for electric cars. Electromobility, in my understanding, is the electrification of basically any means of transport – it can be a ship, a plane, a locomotive, a high-speed train, underground, and so on. Electric cars will become interesting as the primary family car the moment we can drive from Pilsen to Brno and back without having to recharge along the way. That is, when it can drive 600 km, or 300 km there and 300 km back in one day, without having to look for a charger somewhere. And thats something an electric car can’t normally do today. A reasonable compromise and the ideal choice now is a hybrid. If I were to buy a new car this year, I would very likely go for a hybrid technology. An electric car is great for shorter distances – such as taking the kids to their clubs, going shopping, to work, simply getting around the town. Shorter trips that a family does on a normal day – that’s where an electric car makes sense. However, there is a need for a charging infrastructure and an electrification grid that has to take the energy for charging from somewhere, and transfer it to the charger.
And we don’t have that now?
The infrastructure hasn’t been completed yet. I think we’re a bit behind the times on this, and that’s a pity. But I believe we can catch up.
Do you think that if we had this infrastructure in place at the moment, the sales of electric cars would be higher in the Czech Republic, or in Europe?
The problem is the price of electric vehicles. The critical element that makes these vehicles expensive is the cost of the battery. So, if we can bring the battery down in price and, ideally, increase its energy density at the same time, then we have won. Then battery cars are the way to go. At the moment, when batteries are expensive, mass development of battery cars is not possible without significant subsidies. The question to consider is whether the currently widespread individual transport, where the majority of the population has its own car, is what we want to have and support. We are working on possible alternative or complementary solutions – transport sharing, better quality and more comfortable public transport, suburban public transport, high-speed train connections over larger distances nationwide, combined with the possibility of renting a car (typically battery-powered) at the destination when you need more mobility and freedom. Wouldn’t this be a more interesting, more convenient, and cheaper option? I’m convinced it would. At the same time, that model would in no way limit our freedom of movement, which I consider important! We shouldn’t be discussing whether or not the Green Deal is evil, and thinking of it along those lines. We should be debating how society needs to evolve. The Green Deal should be a reaction and a support tool for implementing a consensus on how we want to run our society, how we want to live.
I feel that, especially in Pilsen – and maybe it’s because I live here – people won’t let anyone touch their car or parking space, that they take it as a basic human right, just like food or sleep. They want a car in front of their house, ideally two cars. We’re simply used to having everything, to having it immediately, but our lives are becoming more and more energy-intensive. Are we able to lower our standards?
There are two dimensions to this problem – the intellectual and the emotional. Reason tells us to address the issue of needs, flexibility, cost, and environmental friendliness – do I really need my own car, is it worth the cost, can I afford it, do I have somewhere to park it, is it quicker? The emotional dimension addresses the issue of personal freedom, the feeling of independence. Car ownership is often associated with the feeling that I can do whatever I want – go where I want, when I want. Naturally, we’re afraid that these important values (personal freedom and independence) might be restricted. I believe that the right and sustainable way to go is to provide the bulk of personal mobility services with electrified, flexible, comfortable, and sufficient public or, if you prefer, shared transport, which should be complemented by a reasonable degree of individualized transport. When shared transport works well and is appropriately complemented by, for example, last mile individualized transport, our travel is not only cheaper, less energy and environmentally burdensome, but also more comfortable, faster, more fun, and can be healthier too. Ideally, we want to have an app on our phone to intuitively plan our journey, a public transport stop within walking distance of our homes, with reasonable service frequencies and connectivity. You get comfortably onto a means of transport, which will very likely be autonomously controlled in the future, open your tablet or phone, take care of your work matters, or just rest, and arrive at your destination safely, on time, and without any hassle. You don’t have to worry about parking, you don’t have to worry about whether your car will be stolen, when and where you need to refuel or recharge…
