How can we use technological progress to make mobility in our cities more (energy) efficient, greener and more social? A locally present and Europe-wide networked consortium of business, science, politics and the state capital Erfurt would like to pursue this question together with the citizens of the city starting in spring 2020. The aim of the "Bauhaus.MobilityLab" project is to develop an open, IT-based platform for innovative mobility, logistics and energy applications. On the basis of comprehensive analyses of the traffic, energy and environmental situation of the city of Erfurt, new products and services are to be developed in the "Living Lab" (German: Reallabor) in a dynamic, cooperative process.

 Innovation through experimentation

  There are many starting points for a sustainable mobility and energy concept: How can traffic be intelligently controlled in order to relieve our inner cities? Where should mobility stations be set up to rent bicycles, e-scooters or freight bikes? Which payment models make Car-Sharing more attractive? And how could public transport in Erfurt be better organised? These and other questions will be answered with the help of state-of-the-art information and communication technologies: "The starting point is the development of an IT platform in which, for the first time, extensive, anonymous data from the areas of mobility, logistics and energy will be combined and automatically evaluated using AI technologies," says consortium leader Oliver Warweg of Fraunhofer IOSB-AST Ilmenau, explaining the concept.

  "A lot of data is already being collected via GPS, weather stations or cameras at traffic lights," says Prof. Plank-Wiedenbeck from Bauhaus University Weimar. What is new is the implementation in an intelligent, cross-sector ecosystem ("BML-EcoSys") that, for example, recognizes correlations between emissions and the traffic situation and points out possible alternatives for users and service providers. Based on these findings, innovations will be developed in the areas of Mobility as a Service, climate protection and air quality, neighbourhood and traffic logistics, traffic control, networked driving, traffic safety as well as energy management in the neighbourhood and intelligent energy network control.

  When testing new, AI-based applications, the researchers are counting on the broad participation of the people of Erfurt: "In this way, experience is to be gained for industry and science and at the same time trust and competence is to be built up among the population," says Frank Schnellhardt, Managing Director of INNOMAN GmbH and consortium partner. Formats such as a "technology day", "co-creation workshops" or the registration for the use of a "real laboratory app" are conceivable.

  Millions in funding from the BMWi

  The foundation stone for the "Bauhaus.MobilityLab" has already been laid: After successful participation in the "KI-Innovationswettbewerb" of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi), the project has been nominated for funding in the tens of millions. The final financial commitment will be made as soon as the federal budget for 2020 has been approved.

  More than 130 consortia from science and industry had submitted concept ideas for the competition "Artificial intelligence as a driver for economically relevant ecosystems". The 35 best ideas were given the opportunity to develop detailed concepts between April and September 2019. At the opening ceremony of the "Digital Technologies Forum" on 19 September 2019, the BMWi will officially announce the winners of the "KI Innovation Competition".

 BML-EcoSys - Bauhaus.MobilityLab Erfurt

Funding:

01.04.2020 - 31.03.2023 (expected), around 20 million euros

Project participants:

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for the Promotion of Applied Research e.V. (consortium leader), Bauhaus University Weimar, BPV Consult GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Ernst Abbe University Jena, German Edge Cloud GmbH & Co. KG, INNOMAN GmbH, state capital Erfurt, Robert Bosch GmbH, Siemens Digital Logistics GmbH, WLA Software GmbH

Further information can be found online: 

Website: www.bauhausmobilitylab.de/
Twitter:www.twitter.com/bauhausmobility 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LboC5ZyQRfg

Contact:

Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf. Oliver Warweg
Fraunhofer IOSB
Institutsteil Angewandte Systemtechnik (AST)
phone:  +49 (0) 3677 461-111
mail  oliver.warweg[at]iosb-ast.fraunhofer.de

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Uwe Plank-Wiedenbeck
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Fakultät Bauingenieurwesen
Professur Verkehrssystemplanung
phone: +49 (0) 36 43/58 44 71
mail: uwe.plank-wiedenbeck[at]uni-weimar.de

Dipl.-Kfm. Frank Schnellhardt
INNOMAN GmbH
phone: +49 (0) 36 77/46 84 80
mail: schnellhardt[at]innoman.de

Contact to the editoral office

Claudia Weinreich, Press Officer

Marvin Hamann, Media Relations

mail: presse[at]uni-weimar.de