Danish Traffic Act takes first step towards inter-urban autonomous robots

The Danish Traffic Act has changed and it is now possible to test small, autonomous vehicles in public spaces, including self-propelled robots driving at a speed of up to 6 km/h. Furthermore, the robots must be on wheels, belts, rollers, runners or other that is suitable for driving on the road. 

Conpleks has participated in the Odense Robotics based project, Inter-Urban Vehicles, together with researchers and other robotics companies. The project examined how the change in the traffic legislation will impact the future of mobile robots by exploring new generations of robots that can work in public areas and by studying the changes in the Traffic Act.

Inter-urban vehicles

The change in the Traffic Act will surely help reveal more robot use scenarios, as both researchers and companies within the Danish robot industry are ready to test numerous inter-urban vehicles for different purposes. Some, such as robots for logistics and transport, have been in the pipeline for a long time, and others, such as robots for turf maintenance and sport applications, are brand new.

As the new change makes it possible to test small, autonomous vehicles on Danish streets and alleyways, it becomes more likely to see robots delivering goods right to the door, also called last mile deliveries, in the near future. Even though robots now can drive in the open, there are still some safety aspects that need to be developed, before they are ready to drive autonomously among humans. That is also why, the change in the Traffic Act states that the robot must always be in contact with a person, who can take control if needed.

– Before these robots become widespread, they must become better at interacting with humans. We need to find a way for the robots to make their intentions understandable to the people that they encounter. It is clear that relatively large machines truly driving autonomously require some safety measures, which actually have not yet been fully developed, explains Tom Simonsen, CEO at Conpleks, and continues

– At the same time, the change in the Traffic Act doesn’t take fossil driven machinery into consideration, which excludes a major possibility of robot development for especially agriculture and turf maintenance. Based on this, we have, together with other significant, Danish robotics companies, made a proposal for further changes of the Traffic Act. So, for now we have reached a fine first step; let’s see where the next changes will take us.

Here you can read more about the project Inter-urban Vehicles.