14-CapMetro YARD Program
Date and Time: Tuesday, July 30, 2024: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Location: Indigo BC
Armon Keshmiri
Fleet Technology Consultant, WSP USA Inc.
Presentation Description
The CapMetro Yard Automation Research and Deployment (YARD) Project is a market-first demonstration in North America that will develop, test, and deploy an Automated Driving System (ADS) retrofitted onto a New Flyer 40’ Excelsior battery electric bus (BEB). The BEB will perform maneuvers in CapMetro’s North Ops bus depot in Austin, Texas. Specific maneuvers enabled by the ADS include navigating the bus wash, precision docking with an overhead pantograph charger, parking, and recall, autonomously. Potential benefits the research program intends to validate include a 30% increase in yard capacity, 12–15 minute reduction in pull-in/out routines, a 40% reduction in safety incidents, and roughly a 35% reduction in overhead charging dispensers. This is Phase I of the YARD project, with a potential Phase II beginning in 2025 pending FTA approval. Phase II may include multiple BEBs outfitted with the ADS, development of an automated dispatch system, and the training and hiring of dedicated CapMetro personnel to oversee new standard operating procedures.
Speaker Biography
Armon Keshmiri is an experienced autonomous vehicle validation engineer who works with WSP as a Fleet Technology Consultant. Prior to WSP, Armon worked at various technology and automotive companies around the United States including Waymo, Byton, and Motional. His past work encompasses the full spectrum of autonomous and production vehicle testing including Simulation, Hardware in the Loop, Track, and Integration. He is currently applying those experiences with fully autonomous vehicles to the quickly advancing automated public transit sector. Armon is passionate about the future of automated transit and the safety and efficiency benefits it can provide to its users. He envisions a transition in the coming decade from manually driven diesel vehicles to various forms of automated transit and sees it as the key to keeping cities safe by reducing potential exposure to collision causing scenarios, improving travel-time in congested areas, and eliminating emissions with battery-electric vehicles.
Presentation File
IP-CapMetro YARD Program
Category
Invited Presenter