Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI

Fraunhofer IVI invited the LAURIN project partners to a consortium meeting at the institute. Dr. Jörg Holfeld welcomed the participating companies DEKRA Automobil GmbH, iMAR Navigation GmbH, Smart Mobile Labs AG and TraceTronic GmbH to look back at the accomplishments that have been achieved so far after two-thirds of the project time. Now approaching the finish line, the partners scheduled their next steps with unstinting motivation.

This process remains exciting, as automated driving features will be tested in even more complex scenarios within the project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). To do so, the Lausitzring racetrack was transformed into a test field for highly automated and networked vehicles. Their driving behavior is put to the test in realistic and complex traffic scenarios, aiming to ensure a safe future driving experience on public roads. 

Building up large scale monitoring grids with the help of inexpensive air quality sensors, generating and closely analyzing data of the transport sector in context with meteorological data – These methods constituted the approach of the DEUS_Smart Air project. To achieve this, data from almost 100 mobile and 50 stationary sensors installed in the towns of Teltow and Halberstadt was visualized in a dashboard. Fraunhofer IVI contributed their expertise in the fields of data screening, modeling and prognosis. On April 22, the project participants presented their results at the hybrid event.

Analyses showed that data, collected by air quality sensors, can be used to complement official measurements, if quality assurance, realized through frequent calibrations as well as reference comparisons with other stations, is ensured. Furthermore, multiple factors such as casing, ventilation, height and distance to the emission sources have to be taken into account in order to create representative data.

The project was funded within the innovation initiative mFUND by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport BMDV. Under the coordination Füllner & Partner GmbH, a total of 12 partners had worked together in the project over three and a half years. 

After almost five years of research, the project partners and the advisory board came together once again for a final event and project advisory board meeting. Various presentations and demonstrations took them on a journey through the project´s highlights and gave a glimpse into the future.

“SteigtUm” started in Dezember 2019 and was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the goal of transforming the city of Freiberg into a living lab, overcoming the challenges of urban mobility. The project focused on the development of small electric vehicles, suitable for everyday use. Combined with an autonomous rental and charging infrastructure with a universal user interface, those vehicles can become a great public benefit. This way, problems caused by the increasing urbanization, such as pollution and bad parking situations, can be solved with the help of cost-effective and user-friendly alternatives. The project will now be successfully completed in May 2024.

As the project coordinator, the Institute of Electrical Engineering of TU Freiberg welcomed all participants within its own premises to celebrate the successful completion. Among them were scientists from TU Freiberg, TU Chemnitz, TU Braunschweig, Projektionisten GmbH from Hannover, apromace data systems GmbH from Freiberg and Fraunhofer IVI.

Prof. Ralph Bartholomäus, Uwe Schneider and Ernst-Eckart Schulze presented two solutions developed and designed at the IVI. With “CityTrunk”, an electric cargo trailer was introduced that is able to increase transport capacities for commercial users, while avoiding problems conventional transportation vehicles face within urban areas. In addition, the “CityBox”, an automatic rental and charging station for the “CityBike” developed by TU Freiberg was created to further optimize micromobility within the city.