Automotive Services and Communication Technologies

The trend of decoupling software from hardware has already reached the automotive industry. That provides new freedom for relevant software developers and great potential for new software-based products. That includes applications within the car or applications distributed over several vehicles in a vehicular network. New business models based on vehicular communications (car-to-car, car-to-infrastructure, Web, Backend-Services, Consumer Electronics) are currently evolving and build the central topics of ASCT work and research. ASCT pursues an integrated approach, that includes a realistic simulation environment of C2X-based (car-to-car or car-to-infrastructure communication) applications and the integration of innovative infotainment products into our fleet of research vehicles. Our model car test bed completes the approach, where we implement and test cooperative driving scenarios.

Based on the infrastructure and expertise gained over the last years at Fraunhofer FOKUS, we develop innovative services and applications, that covers infotainment solutions you could experience in our vehicles, as well as C2X-based applications improving traffic safety and traffic flow. Basis to such solutions are interoperable and standard conform systems, considering flexibility and scalability. ASCT identifies security as a cross sectoral and central topic. Secure identities, identity management, privacy and trust are the main aspects covered by ASCT.

Joint projects with academic institutes - particularly with the Berlin Institute of Technology - grant early adaptation to technological trends and partnership with young talents.

Engineering Smart Mobility: Connecting eMobility and cooperative ITS solutions.

Fraunhofer FOKUS invites on April, 26 to the 3rd VSimRTI Workshop 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Smart Mobility applications run on numerous platforms ranging from in-vehicle systems to smart phones. They aspire to increase driving comfort, time and traffic efficiency and safety through cooperation between drivers and travelers. The simulation environments VSimRTI is proved as a proper tool to develop and evaluate such applications.

Unexpected flexibility among car drivers: FOKUS already uses driver’s altruism for development research

First user studies confirm that car drivers are willing to accept longer travel times and even detours for the benefit of the community. To ensure that this cooperativeness would not be left unexploited, FOKUS is now developing automotive technologies that navigate car drivers in the interest of community.

Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda visited Fraunhofer FOKUS at the ITS World Congress 2012

At this year’s ITS World Congress in Vienna, the FOKUS Competence Center ASCT (Automotive Services and Communication Technologies) presented safe mobility solutions based on the OVERSEE project. Using 1/18th scale autonomous communicating vehicles, long term use-cases “Emergency Brake” and “Platooning” were showcased at the fair.

2nd VSimRTI Workshop: Engineering Smart Mobility

Smart Mobility applications run on numerous platforms ranging from in-vehicle systems to smart phones. They aspire to increase driving comfort, time and traffic efficiency and safety through cooperation between drivers and travelers. The simulation environments VSimRTI is proved as a proper tool to develop and evaluate such applications.

Engineering Smart Mobility

Engineering Smart Mobility Fraunhofer FOKUS lädt zum zweiten VSimRTI Workshop an.

FOKUS Exhibit „Smart Mobility“: Highlight on the CeBIT 2012 Tradeshow

With the beginning of this years’ CeBIT tradeshow, the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr. Annette Schavan visited the Fraunhofer booth. Together with the President of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, she obtained the latest info on innovations about the “Smart Mobility Traffic Management of the Future”.

Call a car and be picked up: Model cars show future transport scenario at the German IT Summit

How to get from one point to another in the “City of Tomorrow” shows a new Fraunhofer FOKUS scenario, developed in cooperation with the Daimler AG, the European Center for Information and Communication Technologies (EICT) and “Münchner Kreis”. A first showcase with model cars was presented at this year’s Federal Government IT Summit in Munich. The demonstration shows how in the future cars can be asked to come to a certain pick-up-point and take passengers to a pre-programmed destination autonomously.