Cleveron, an Estonian-based technology company, partnered with LRK Driving School to conduct 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. Four Cleveron specialists passed the exam and received the world’s first tele-operated vehicle certificates.
To receive the certificate, drivers took special tele-operated vehicle training, followed by field exercises and city driving, in accordance with 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 5 minutes.
“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,” said Taavi Purtsak, Cleveron’s Testing Process Specialist.
The exam was assessed by specialist Jaan Kleemann from LRK Driving School, who added: “I have also passed the teleoperated vehicle Cleveron 701 training myself to understand the differences between driving a teleoperated 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 a remotely suvervised last-mile delivery vehicle that can operate in low-traffic areas to deliver goods within a 15–30 minute driving range of a retailer, fulfillment centre or 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. For example, 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 ice cream truck.
Cleveron is an Estonian technology company that has provided innovative parcel lockers and robots for the retail and logistics industries for over 13 years. The company has over 40 customers worldwide, including Inditex, Albertsons, Asda, Woolworths, Falabella, and DHL.
