Comfortable overnight bus trips through Europe: BFH and Twiliner are developing an innovative reclining seat

03.04.2023 Fancy boarding a travel bus in the evening and waking up the next day in another city, well-rested? Thanks to an innovative reclining seat, this will soon be possible. The seat is currently being developed by the start-up Twiliner in collaboration with researchers from the Institute for Energy and Mobility Research IEM at Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH.

Travel busses are unattractive for long-distance trips due to their lack of comfort. But this is all about to change. Researchers from the Institute for Energy and Mobility Research IEM at Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH and the Dynamic Test Center DTC are working with a start-up, Twiliner, to develop an innovative seat that can be transformed into a horizontal bed, enabling reclining passengers to travel in a safe, comfortable and legally compliant way. Such a seat does not exist yet in Europe, since no convenient reclining restraint system has been developed at this point. BFH’s expertise makes it possible to develop the seat so in can be approved and certified in compliance with the highest safety standards despite the lack of standardisation on the part of the legislator. The project is supported by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. The first overnight Twiliner bus lines will be operational in 2024.

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