Prototypes: New vehicles for future mobility

Cars are far too low on flexibility in their current form, revolutionary concepts for passenger and freight traffic provide a solution

Autonomous electric vehicle — To solve the pressing problems of automobile traffic, researchers developed a completely new vehicle concept. (Photo: Amadeus Bramsiepe, KIT)

Completely new vehicle concepts are needed to solve the pressing problems of car traffic, such as high CO2-emissions, traffic jams and overcrowding in inner cities. Converting or technically upgrading current vehicles is not enough. That's why researchers have developed vehicles from scratch in a Germany-wide project with the participation of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The result is revolutionary electric and driverless prototypes for individual and public transportation as well as freight transport.

Rethinking the car thanks to automation

"In current vehicles, everything is in a certain place because that has been the optimal choice at a certain point in their development history. But with today's automation possibilities, we were able to rethink the car completely," says Martin Lauer from the KIT Institute of Measurement and Control Systems (MRT).
The newly developed vehicles have four individually steerable wheels, which enables completely new motion sequences when maneuvering, such as parking by driving sideways. "Since the vehicles don't have a steering wheel, we didn't have to consider a person steering. Therefore vehicles are able to drive in both directions without any problems," Lauer explains. This is made possible by novel sensor modules developed at the MRT, which ensure all-round visibility even in difficult situations.

Automated package delivery

Equipped with a robotic arm, a variant of the vehicle developed at the Institute of Materials Handling and Logistics (IFL) can deliver packages autonomously. "The system drives up to parcel boxes set up at the side of the road and picks up or hands over parcels with its robotic arm," explains Kai Markert of the IFL. "Through a sophisticated system of cameras, the parcels are measured, identified and safely grabbed."

The UNICARagil project involved 17 universities and companies. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with about 32 million euros.

mex, May 12, 2023