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Digital, connected and resource-efficient – these are the desired features of future mobility. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has been supporting research projects in digital test fields of several cities – one of them Dresden.

On November 14, 2018, results from the projects REMAS, SYNCAR, HarmonizeDD and IVS-KOM, all part of the Saxon research initiative »Synchrone Mobilität 2023«, have been presented at the event »Urban test environment for automated and connected driving«, which took place at the Dresden airport. In addition to presentations and an exhibition, visitors experienced the official launch of the first test corridor with five Roadside Units. By connecting wayside infrastructure, vehicle and backend, it was possible to demonstrate cooperative driving and lane changing in public for the first time.

• Press release (available in German only)

At the SePIA half-time event, which was held on Fraunhofer IVI premises, scholars and experts of the associated project partners spent the day discussing first project findings and results with potential end users from the automotive industry and OEMs.

SePIA's main aim is the establishment of a complex validation platform for automated vehicles and their electronic subsystems. On the basis of police-recorded accident data, information from accident reconstruction reports, as well as vehicle and video data from naturalistic driving studies (NDS), the functional safety of all automated components as well as the entire vehicle can be ensured even during their development stages, thus guaranteeing a safe operation. After the project term ends in 2020, this unique, complex and open data platform will provide a basis for the homologation and registration of new vehicle models and the further development of the general inspection for vehicles with automated driving functions.  

SePIA is one of more then 10 subprojects of the »Synchrone Mobilität 2023« initiative (Synchronized Mobility 2023), which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Saxony.

On September 25, the 5G Summit jointly organized by the 5G Lab Germany and IEEE was held at the International Congress Center Dresden. More than 500 visitors from industry and research exchanged ideas in emerging telecommunication technologies.

Within the Saxon »Synchrone Mobilität 2023« (Synchronized Mobility) initiative, the Fraunhofer IVI presented recent research results in the field of autonomous traffic and maneuver control using Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication. The institute took the opportunity to showcase two fully autonomous robots that share information about their own status and environmental perception to coordinate their routes in conjunction with a roadside unit (RSU). Within a decentralized coordination scenario, the robots were able to pass an intersection without stopping by adjusting their speeds depending on the other's position. In a second scenario, the RSU virtually transmitted messages about traffic light phases to enable an infrastructure-based coordination.

The future technologies of automated and connected driving and Intelligent Transport Systems are making progress all around the world. Vehicles with automated driving functions have to achieve at least the level of driving skills of an attentive human driver. To improve the functional safety of these novel technologies in the future, the project SePIA (Scenario-Based Platform for the Inspection of Automated Driving Functions) will develop and analyze a complex validation platform for electronic subsystems and the overall vehicle under the coordination of the FSD GmbH.

The six project partners met on 15 June in Radeberg at FSD’s glass test stand. The consortium members include FSD, TraceTronic GmbH, the Fraunhofer IVI, the TU Dresden (Chairs of Computer Graphics and Visualisation & Automobile Engineering) and the Institute for Traffic Accident Research at Dresden University of Technology. The Fraunhofer IVI will provide accident data, process and detect the criticality of accident and report data and analyze the critical scenarios yet missing.

Further information:

• SePIA project website

The Research and Development project HarmonizeDD was officially launched with a kick-off meeting on May 11-12 in Dresden. To support connected vehicles, the project will develop an innovative cloud-based transport system. Thereby the focus will be on the interaction of conventional and future highly automated vehicles in mixed urban traffic as well as transport infrastructure in urban scenarios. The project is closely linked to the initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023« and the results will be evaluated on the urban digital test field for autonomous driving in Dresden.

The two year project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) with resources from the »Funding guideline automated and connected driving on digital test fields in Germany« (Förderrichtlinie automatisiertes und vernetztes Fahren auf digitalen Testfeldern in Deutschland). Project partners include BMW AG (project management), Fraunhofer IVI (project coordination), Chemnitz University of Technology, Technische Universität Dresden, IAV GmbH, IVM gGmbH, MUGLER AG, Noritel GmbH, Preh Car Connect GmbH and Vodafone GmbH.

A consortium of industrial companies and scientific institutions initiated the Saxon research initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023« to face the challenges of digitalization and interconnection in the field of transportation. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure supports this state initiative by officially appointing Dresden as one in six cities to become urban digital test fields for autonomous driving. This development will  be supported by federal funding.

Besides autonomous driving functions in private and public transport, the initiative aims to make traffic flows more fluid in order to reduce pollutant emissions and increase the traffic density for an optimal utilization of infrastructure capacities.

Synchronous movements, which we observe in the swarm behavior of animals such as fish, birds and insects, set examples for showcasing how a large number of living entities could move forward efficiently even in a very small space.

The Fraunhofer IVI takes the lead in numerous research projects of the Saxon pilot project »Synchronized Mobility 2023«. Federal Minister Alexander Dobrindt granted further funding within the »Funding guideline automated and connected driving on digital test fields in Germany« (Förderrichtlinie automatisiertes und vernetztes Fahren auf digitalen Testfeldern in Deutschland). Parliamentary State Secretary Dorothee Bär handed over the notifications of approval  to the project partners on March 30.

• Press release by the BMVI (in German)

The kick-off meeting for the research project IVS-KOM was held on February 24 at the Fraunhofer IVI. This project receives funding by the state of Saxony within the high-tech initiative »Synchronized Mobility 2023 – Intelligent Transport Systems in Saxony«, and collaborates closely with other projects from the initiative, for instance REMAS and SYNCAR.

Project partners include NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH (project management), the Fraunhofer IVI (project coordination), Dresden Elektronik Ingenieurtechnik GmbH, IAV GmbH, Institut für Vernetzte Mobilität (Institute for Connected Mobility, IVM) gGmbH, MUGLER AG, Preh Car Connect GmbH and the TU Dresden - Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems.

The objectives of IVS-KOM are:

• Development, test and validation of a reference system for ITS communication with heterogeneous technologies,
• Platform integration as well as
• Recommendations for the use of communication technologies and networks in the overall ITS context.

The project will develop various platforms for on-board units in vehicles, roadside units and traffic signal systems. These platforms will be tested in real-life public transport environments and also validated for applications in vehicle automation.