New means of transportation for urban areas

Prototype from Kern

Martin Schrüfer, 08.04.2020, 08:00

New means of transportation for urban areas

Kern GmbH is part of the urbANT project, which is currently in the concept phase. This involves the design of a 24/7 terminal that is to be specially adapted for this pilot project: Cars are still the first choice for transporting heavy goods or supermarket shopping, even in urban areas. In the urbANT project, the partners are working on the development of an urban, automated, user-oriented transport platform that is intended to be an alternative to cars in city centers.

Specifically, the project involves the development, production and testing of three individual, electrically powered micromobility vehicles. These are intended to allow pedestrians in particular to carry heavy and large-volume goods safely and conveniently, whether for private shopping or the delivery of parcels and packages.

The so-called micromobile should be able to follow the user automatically and also have the potential for fully automated use without a human driver. Automated parcel delivery using a micro parcel station is also possible. Kern GmbH is contributing its expertise in 24/7 smart terminals to this interface. This form of secure delivery also enables the transportation of valuables, for example. The plan is to develop a prototype that includes the functions of the 24/7 terminal.

The project is backed by a consortium of ten consortium partners and two associated partners. It is coordinated by the Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika) at RWTH Aachen University and supported by the following consortium partners: Chair of Technology and the Individual (iTec) at RWTH Aachen University, Ford-Werke GmbH, Institut für Unternehmenskybernetik e.V., Innovationsmanufaktur GmbH, German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research, easy2Cool GmbH, BE-Power GmbH, neomesh GmbH and the Federal Republic of Germany (represented by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

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