autonomous driving transport of specimens by automated shuttle bus

At Mayo Hospital in Florida, USA, an autonomous driving shuttle bus is used to automatically transport medical supplies and new coronavirus specimens. This reduces the burden of transportation work in tight medical settings, allowing medical staff to concentrate on patient treatment. And above all, it greatly contributes to preventing the spread of infection to medical workers and work staff.

Operation began on March 30, 2020 with four self-autonomous driving shuttle buses, and samples are automatically transported from the drive-through inspection site near the hospital to the hospital laboratory. There is no driver on the autonomous driving shuttle bus, only medical supplies and specimens are loaded and transported automatically, but the operation is constantly monitored by the command center. In addition, the transport route is set in an area completely isolated from pedestrians and hospital staff, enabling safe automatic transport of specimens.

What is the NAVYA autonomous driving shuttle bus?

We use the French NAVYA autonomous driving shuttle bus "ARMA" for automatic transport of specimens. NAVYA provides solutions such as autonomous driving shuttle buses with the mission of solving social issues through autonomous driving. NAVYA's autonomous driving solutions are designed with safety driving and operation, usability, and business feasibility in mind, and support the practical application of autonomous driving.

NAVYA's autonomous driving shuttle bus "ARMA" is an EV car (electric vehicle) equipped with an autonomous driving system. It has a maximum speed of 25 km/h, can carry 15 passengers, and can run for about 9 hours on a single charge. The autonomous driving system uses state-of-the-art multi-sensor technology such as LiDAR, cameras, and GNSS, and along with our own autonomous driving algorithm, achieves highly reliable autonomous driving. For the introduction of an autonomous driving shuttle bus, we provide total support, from requirements definition to system design based on preliminary surveys and verifications, driving condition settings (ODD) and map creation, maintenance and maintenance in operation, and verification of effects.

The autonomous driving shuttle bus "ARMA" is the optimal solution for the practical application of autonomous driving. As in this case, Macnica provides total support from consulting to implementation support and after-sales service for the use of autonomous driving in hospitals and other facilities. Please check the banner link below for detailed information about the product.

Use of autonomous driving cars that are spreading

"Utilizing state-of-the-art autonomous driving technology will allow medical staff to stay focused on patient care while preventing infections," said Kent Thielen, CEO of Mayo Hospital. increase. Until now, many studies have been conducted on the use of autonomous driving as a solution to "traffic issues" such as traffic congestion, people with disabilities in local transportation, and driver shortages. The number of use cases for autonomous driving is increasing in cases. autonomous driving can be expected to be used to solve more "social issues" as the technology develops further in the future.

Macnica provides many solutions related to autonomous driving. If you have any interest or problems regarding autonomous driving, please feel free to contact us.

Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the medical workers who are working hard on the front lines of treatment and prevention, while wishing for an early end to this new coronavirus.