The regulars' table was jointly organised by the Saxon Energy Agency SAENA and the Chair of Vehicle Mechatronics (FZM) at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences at TU Dresden.

Three expert presentations were given at the event:

1. "Innovative shuttle concepts in the context of municipal mobility needs" - Mario Nowack (Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe)

2. "Project presentation ABSOLUT" - Dr. Steffen Kutter (TU Dresden, Chair of Vehicle Mechatronics)

3. "Driverless automated shuttle - FLASH" - Christian Hoyas (District of North Saxony)

In addition, the automated bus shuttles of the Saxon projects ABSOLUT (Leipzig) and FLASH (district of Nordsachsen) were presented to the approximately fifty participants from business, science and municipalities.

In the intensive discussions following the presentations and around the exhibited vehicles, the importance of the automation of small shuttle buses as a feeder of high-performance public transport in suburban areas and for basic mobility assurance in rural areas was particularly emphasised. The driving speeds of up to 70 km/h in automated operation envisaged in both projects are a unique selling point compared to similar projects for automated public transport and are seen as a basic prerequisite for presenting attractive services outside urban centres.

The researchers from TU Dresden demonstrated the multiple redundant 360° environment detection system in the ABSOLUT vehicle consisting of radar, lidar and camera as well as the downstream powerful detection and classification algorithms, which form the basis for reliable vehicle automation and are being built up and further developed as part of the research project. The entire vehicle with the associated automation system has already been successfully assessed by a testing organisation. With the subsequent approval for the converted e-Crafter, TU Dresden is one of the few universities that has a highly automated vehicle with a test permit for public road traffic and can test automated functions in it. With the digital test field in the northern region of Leipzig, which was set up as part of the ABSOLUT project, the Free State of Saxony also has a unique research infrastructure for highly automated and connected driving in the context of public transport.