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Temsa Focuses On Autonomous Vehicles, Features its First Concept Vehicle

11 October 2018

TEMSA that is market leader of Turkey in bus and midibus market last 4 years is now stepping up its efforts in autonomous busses. Having launched the serial production of its first electric bus, MD9 electriCITY, TEMSA showcased the autonomous member of the MD9 family, the first electric and autonomous concept vehicle, MD9 electriCITY, at the Nvidia Europe GTC in Munich. TEMSA is planning to go into serial production in 2022.

Achieving an exports figure of nearly 15 thousand vehicles, developed by Turkish engineers, to about 70 countries, TEMSA is now expanding its vehicle line with high technology vehicles. Continuing its efforts in electric vehicles, and getting the 9m MD9 electriCITY and 12m Avenue Electron ready for serial production, TEMSA is poised to lead the autonomous vehicle technology in Turkey.

EFFORTS STARTED IN 2017

As a major pillar of TEMSA's technology advancement strategy, intensive autonomous vehicle technology efforts have been going on at TEMSA's Adana plant for the past 2 years. The result of these efforts, the concept version of the first domestic electric and autonomous vehicle developed in cooperation with Galatasaray University and Infotech company and supported by the Scientific and Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), was on display at the Nvidia Europe GTC in Munich.

R&D GETS 5% OF TURNOVER

Commenting on the subject, CEO of TEMSA Mr. Hasan Yıldırım said that competition in the automotive industry was essentially about technology, and added "The rapid developments in technology are actually redesigning the economic trends in the world. Chiefly among them are smart transport and smart cities. And the most important part of the smart city vision is electric and autonomous vehicles.”

Positioning TEMSA as a growing company and a leader in technology manufacturing its smart products in smart factories in line with the Smart Mobility vision, which has a growing impact on the world, Mr. Hasan Yıldırım continued: "In this sense, we view TEMSA now more as a technology company than an automotive company. We are pouring significant investment into electric and autonomous vehicles. We take big pride in supporting our country's economy with vehicles produced in Adana, which are entirely the work of Turkish engineering. Annually, we allocate about 5% of our consolidated turnover to R&D efforts with a view to becoming a global brand in our industry. One result of these efforts is the MD9 electriCITY model electric and autonomous vehicle that we plan to get ready for 2022.”

Laser pulses to detect nearby objects

• TEMSA's first autonomous vehicle is developed on its 9m electric MD9 electriCITY model. To detect the objects nearby, the vehicle is equipped with LIDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) radars and cameras.
• The vehicle is equipped with 3 LIDARs, one on each side and one on top. The LIDAR system fires laser pulses to measure the distance of the objects and surfaces nearby. 
• The vehicle is also equipped with an infrared stereo camera to detect other vehicles and people around. Additionally, two cameras on top of the vehicle confirm the presence of objects in the area. Moreover, the vehicle's radar detects the other vehicles around and calculates the distance between them and the bus.

Will slow down at the stop to pick up passengers

• The desired level to be achieved in autonomous vehicle technology is for the vehicle to stay in the lane, and to approach and leave stops after collecting passengers.
• In the first phase of the 3-phase project, the vehicle is expected to warn the driver about possible accidents.
• In the second phase, the vehicle is to slow down as soon as it detects a possible accident, and if the slower speed is not enough to avoid collision, brakes will kick in.
• And in the third phase, the vehicle will gain enough autonomy to approach stops, pick up passengers, and stay in the lane.
• The autonomous system uses the Nvidia PX2 computing system for data analytics and deep learning.

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