Whether for the trip to the doctor, shopping, or commuting to work: many people rely on local public transport in their everyday lives. However, public transport often reaches its limits in rural areas, in particular. In order to better connect these areas with the city, the Thuringian Center for Innovation in Mobility (ThIMo) at Technische Universität Ilmenau develops practical and future-proof solutions as part of their "Digital Mobility" research challenge. Together with the City of Ilmenau and regional industrial partners, a milestone along this path has now been reached: testing a research vehicle with automation level 4 on selected routes in public road traffic. On November 27, the vehicle was presented at the closing event at TU Ilmenau as a key result of the P:Mover project.
Eight radar sensors, eight cameras, two LIDAR sensors at the front and rear and a sensor with surround view on the roof - together with multi-standard radio modules and intelligent data processing and computing technology, they enable driverless operation of the research vehicle on specified routes at speeds of up to 60 km/h. Communication between the vehicle and control centers is ensured throughout the city by good coverage with 5G new-radio mobile communication standard. With the help of 5G, passengers can also be informed of current journey times in real time, the condition of public roads and the traffic flow at junctions in the city area can be monitored in order to shorten journey times and reduce emissions. Ilmenau was selected by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as a 5G pioneer region in 2021 for this ambitious project, from which regions throughout Germany could benefit in the future.
"A quick step into a generation of automated driving"
The P:Mover project, an acronym for "5G Pioneer Region: Connecting mobility solutions in suburban areas", is part of a family of projects on automated and connected driving in which ThIMo is developing solutions for smart mobility in rural areas jointly with research partners, industry, operators and Thuringian districts and cities. Against the backdrop of climate change, demographic development and societal participation, the partners aim at improving the quality of life. In 2022, the Ilm-Kreis and the IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH, with the support of ThIMo and the City of Ilmenau, had already successfully put two level 3 automated minibuses into regular service between the train station and the TU Ilmenau campus as part of the CAMIL"The results that we have been able to achieve with the P:Mover Kai-Uwe Sattler on the occasion of the closing event:
On the one hand, together we were able to take a rapid step towards level 4 into a new generation of automated driving.
This was possible despite the fact that the demanding topographical and climate conditions in the Thuringian Forest presented particular challenges. The way in which the project partners - the City of Ilmenau, which coordinated the project, the Thuringian Innovation Center for Mobility (ThIMo) and the two companies Funkwerk and Ginger Lehmann+Partner - worked together for the benefit of the people in the region was also particularly remarkable:
As a technical university, we were able to combine two of our research profile lines: Our expertise in intelligent sensor technology and in data-intensive engineering, i.e. for the development of complex systems and the management of data.
Experiencing research in a living lab
According to Ilmenau’s Lord Mayor Dr. Daniel Schultheiß, one aim of the project was to bring the joint research to the public and make it tangible in a real-life laboratory in collaboration with the partners. Christoph Marquardt from the autoBus office, who supports the research with his expertise in the field of networked public transport, describes the cooperation between I rarely see a mayor put so much personal commitment into research and drive it forward.The field-operational testing of the vehicle in Ilmenau is initially planned along the two routes between the bus station - campus - vocational school center "Am Ehrenberg" and the industrial park "Am Vogelherd". Due to the significantly higher degree of automation compared to CAMIL, the vehicle will travel at local speeds right from the start. Initially, however, a trained safety driver will be on board for every journey and can take over the driving control at any time.
5G and Level 4 brought together
ThIMo Director Prof. Matthias Hein is also enthusiastic about the results achieved: The P in the P:Mover project, he said, stands not only symbolically for the pioneering work that has been done, but also for the people for whom theThe research vehicle, which is based on a VW Multivan T7 with hybrid drive, was initially retrofitted with the necessary hardware and software by IAV GmbH and jointly procured by the city of Ilmenau and ThIMo. Professor Hein explains:
In this way, the environmental sensors in conjunction with the communication and computing technology ensure automated driving functions that would otherwise be performed by the human driver. This is the way to ensure safe driving on selected routes.
The availability of the vehicle combines the new level of driving automation according to Level 4 with the new possibilities offered by the 5G new-radio communication standard. Professor Hein:
This puts us at a level where we can keep up with other projects and develop Ilmenau into a smart city.
This also includes, for example, intelligent traffic flow control, for which ThIMo and the City of Ilmenau were also able to lay the foundations with P:Mover.
Progress through 5G
Not least, the project also provided the framework for developing new measurement methods for 5G mobile communications and applying them in the real laboratory. Professor Hein:For days and weeks, the P:Mover project team from ThIMo walked through the city and rode public buses to evaluate with the novel measurement methods: How strong are the 5G immissions and how far below the legal limits’ At the same time, we developed a digital twin to carry out numerical sumulations on the basis of highly accurate map data, which can be used to estimate immissions, and which the vehicle can use to orient itself in road traffic.
In addition, two 5G-based passenger information systems were installed at the train station and on the campus, offering further benefits of the new radio standard. In order to support the City of Ilmenau with handling 5G mobile communication and radiation protection, a handout is currently being developed with the expertise of Dr. Christian Bornkessel, research associate at ThIMo and member of the German Commission on Radiological Protection.
L4-based public passenger transport and integration into timetables also planned for other regions
The results of P:Mover now form the starting point for follow-up projects such as the MOVEwell - "Mobility network for valuable rural living spaces" in which ThIMo develops mobility solutions together with the Bauhaus University Weimar and partners such as Zentralklinikum Bad Berka, Arbeiterwohlfahrt Saalfeld and Stadtwirtschaft Weimar. In the long term, state-wide integrally timed regular bus services shall be complemented with autonomous on-demand buses. At the closing event for the P:Mover project, Constantin Pitzen from autoBus outlined the well-advanced status of the Thuringia-wide integrated timetable. From the perspective of the vehicle industry, Tim Alscher from IAV GmbH opened up prospects for level 4 automated buses suitable for series production, which could modernize the public transport of the future.To the project video "Smart mobility in rural areas - from a research idea to a real laboratory"
