Mobility

What could motivate city dwellers to drive less? The startup Plan4Better has developed an urban planning tool to design cities where everyday destinations can be reached on foot or by bicycle within 15 minutes. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) spinout has received the City of Munich Innovation Award among other honors.

Cities and urban lifestyles are a major cause of climate change. At the same time, cities are increasingly affected by the impacts of climate change, including extreme events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall. The “Green City of the Future” project, exploring solutions to address climate change and densification of the built environment in growing cities, has been shortlisted as a finalist for the German Sustainability Award in the field of research. It’s now over to the public to decide on the winning project via an online vote.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday – a race completely without drivers. Nine teams from universities around the world competed against one another with race cars controlled using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Technical University of Munich (TUM) team made the best time with an average speed of 218 kilometers per hour. That won the young researchers first place and a cash prize of one million US dollars.

It is an ambitious goal: By 2030 the German government aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 65 percent compared to 1990. But how? With partners from industry and research institutes, scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are working on prototypes for an electric-powered truck and the charging station it will need.

A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has been working in the Providentia and Providentia++ projects to equip busy roads with advanced sensor technology. With artificial intelligence (AI), the data are digitally twinned to create a model of the real-world traffic situation. In this interview project leader Alois Knoll, a professor of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Embedded Systems, explains the underlying vision – and what needs to be done to keep pace with the future of digital mobility.

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (IABG) are building a new test bed for intelligent mobility concepts. With funding from the Bavarian Ministry of Transport, the facility will be used to explore the interaction of future autonomous transport systems and their safe and standardized operation.

Elon Musk's "Not-a-Boring Competition" was held in Las Vegas on Sunday. Eight student teams from around the world competed against one another, drilling with boring machines they had constructed themselves. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) team, TUM Boring, managed to drill 22 of the total 30 meters necessary and came away the undisputed winner.

Will a hyperloop train soon whisk us from Munich to Berlin in just 30 minutes? Will artificial intelligence control our vehicles in the future? And how can we create more effectively networked, climate-friendly forms of urban mobility? These issues are being explored by scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Their research projects will be presented at IAA MOBILITY in Munich from September 7–12.

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is delighted that a Hydrogen Technology User Center (WTAZ) in Pfeffenhausen, near Landshut, has now been greenlighted. TUM will participate in the research and development work at the new Center as part of a Bavarian consortium. The decision in favor of this location was announced today by the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Bavarian state government.

Our cities are growing. This leads to increasing use of resources below ground, for example when building underground train systems, using geothermal heat or developing drinking water supplies. Researchers at TUM have generated a 3D underground model of Munich. It has yielded surprising insights, as Dr. Kai Zosseder of the Chair of Hydrogeology explains.