Cleveron, an Estonian-based technology company, has partnered with LRK Driving School to conduct what they say are “the world’s first driving exams with an unmanned semi-autonomous car”.
The exams were carried out with Cleveron’s last-mile delivery vehicle Cleveron 701. All four Cleveron specialists passed the exam and received the world’s first tele-operated vehicle certificates.
To receive the certificate, drivers first had to undergo special tele-operated vehicle training, followed by field exercises and city driving, in accordance with the Estonian examination standards.
The field exercises consisted of six different exercises with a time limit of 15 minutes. On average, the drivers completed the exercises in five minutes, reports Robotics & Automation.
Taavi Purtsak, Cleveron’s testing process specialist, says: “The first four drivers who obtained the ‘Tele-Operated vehicle driver’ certificate performed field exercise and city driving without errors.
“Here at Cleveron, we can now be certain that it is indeed possible to drive an unmanned vehicle in the same way as a conventional car, and we are on the right track with the development of our vehicles.”
The exam was assessed by one of the best specialists in Estonia, Jaan Kleemann from LRK Driving School, who says: “I have also passed the tele-operated vehicle Cleveron 701 training myself to understand the differences between driving a tele-operated and conventional vehicle, where the driver is actually in the driver’s seat.
“Based on my experience, I can say that Cleveron’s engineers have done an excellent job of developing a driverless vehicle that allows driving remotely as safe as driving a traditional car. In addition, the examinees were very well prepared – it only took them about 5 to 6 minutes to complete the field exercises, and they did all of them on the first attempt.”
Cleveron 701 is Cleveron’s latest innovation in boosting last-mile delivery efficiency. Supervised remotely, the vehicle can drive in low traffic areas to deliver goods within a 15-30 minute driving range of a retailer, fulfilment centre or a dark store.
Cleveron 701 is also designed as an adaptable, semi-autonomous platform to which the operator can add suitable modifications for serving different delivery needs.
The Cleveron 701 can be modified to operate as a grocery delivery robot with temperature-controlled sections, a parcel delivery vehicle or even a high-tech coffee robot or an ice cream truck.
