Road assistance company Touring and D’Ieteren’s car-sharing platform Poppy will pilot an innovative project starting at the beginning of next year. Together, they will test remote-controlled cars to transport people. Anyone experiencing car trouble in the port of Antwerp can be taken to the replacement car depot by a remotely controlled Poppy vehicle.

The experiment will be organised at the port of Antwerp. Two Poppy cars will be used, equipped with remote-control systems. Touring customers with car trouble can be driven to Touring’s replacement car depot in one of these vehicles. 

Safety driver

Touring will send the Poppy car closest to the customer, so that the journey can continue smoothly. Remote control means that a driver controls the vehicle remotely, without being on site himself. For the time being, a safety driver is still required by law, but in the long term, the car should drive completely autonomously.

The vehicle can carry multiple passengers, according to both partners, seven days a week. If the test proves successful, both the fleet of remote-controlled vehicles and the operating area will be expanded. To give an idea of ​​the potential: Touring handles 680,000 roadside assistance calls annually and provides cover for 2.8 million people.

Teledriving

In February, Poppy introduced its remote-controlled shared cars to the public in the Port of Antwerp. This project is intended to transport captains and crew members of the tugboat company Boluda. This initiative is now being expanded. The project is supported by the city of Antwerp and the regional and federal authorities.

Patrick Van Den Broeck of Touring: “Touring wants to actively contribute to the emergence and testing of innovative technologies like teledriving, even before the fully autonomous car arrives. This technology will undoubtedly become important in the future, and Touring aims to be a pioneer in this area.”