In the project "Shuttles & Co - Digital Test Field Urban Traffic", safety and comfort in digital urban traffic is being tested and further developed using automated vehicles and new communication technologies. Citizens are involved and given the opportunity to test innovative technologies in the district of Berlin-Reinickendorf.

Researchers from the Smart Mobility business unit at Fraunhofer FOKUS are working closely with the Daimler Center for Automotive IT Innovation (DCAITI) at the TU Berlin to further develop basic technologies for the future digitalization of traffic. The focus here is on improving digital maps and traffic information - an important key issue for highly automated driving. One of the project's goals is to enable the automatic updating of precise map material in the test field.

Since many sensors detect more than just a single automated car or bus, another focus is to further develop the exchange of individual messages between vehicles, as well as the traffic infrastructure via WLAN or mobile network, towards the implementation of a cooperative perception of the environment. This ensures a redundant and thus reliable perception of the road situation.

The project partners will be able to jointly derive findings for the traffic of the future from the results of the project.

“Shuttles & Co” is managed by the Senate Department for Environment, Transport and Climate Protection and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure with a total of 9.8 million euros in 2020 and 2021.

The project partners besides Fraunhofer FOKUS are:

• Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG)
• Berliner Agentur für Elektromobilität eMO
• Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Institut für Verkehrssystemtechnik
• Freie Universität Berlin – Dahlem Center for Machine Learning and Robotics
• Hella Aglaia Mobile Vision GmbH
• IAV GmbH Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr
• Senate Department for Environment, Transport and Climate Protection
• Technische Universität Berlin with: Daimler Center for Automotive IT Innovations (DCAITI), Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft (ZTG), Bereich “Mobility and Space”
• VMZ Berliner Betreibergesellschaft mbH