Federal government funds second ABSOLUT research project

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (German: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz – BMWK) is funding the continuation of the ABSOLUT research and development project. The second phase, which is now starting, aims to build on the successful results of the previous project and realise further steps towards a regular operation later on. The project kick-off took place on 13 November 2023, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon, at the Institute of Wood Technology in Dresden.

„With the ICT for Electric Mobility technology programme, the federal government is funding key technologies for the upcoming challenges of the energy and transport transition. With ABSOLUT II, we are continuing the success story of the Central German partner consortium in order to drive forward local public transport as a whole with the help of digitalisation," says Christian Liebich, project manager of the ICT for Electric Mobility technology programme at the BMWK.

While the previous ABSOLUT project developed and set up the overall system of a highly automated, on-demand public transport system and evaluated it by means of trials with test persons, ABSOLUT II now aims to solve a central problem: The existing safety driver in the vehicle is to be replaced by a stationary technical supervisor in a control centre, in accordance with the law on autonomous driving, thus enabling remote vehicle access. All interfaces between the system components are to be developed with the partners in the project on a manufacturer-neutral and open basis.

"The overall goal of the ABSOLUT project is in line with the City of Leipzig's mobility strategy, which we are using to significantly strengthen sustainable mobility. The standardised provision of data from the city can make a significant contribution to the automation of transport in public spaces," says Thomas Dienberg, Construction Mayor of the City of Leipzig.

In the follow-up project, a total of 10 partners from industry, local authorities and research are working on a technical solution that will ultimately enable several vehicles to be managed by one employee, which will open up real scaling potential. Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (Leipzig public transport company) is acting as consortium leader and is pooling the work of Advanced Navigation Solutions - ANavS GmbH, BitCtrl Systems GmbH, FSD - Zentrale Stelle, glts cotech GmbH, IKEM - Institut für Klimaschutz, Energie und Mobilität, INIT GmbH, Sedenius Engineering GmbH, the City of Leipzig and Dresden University of Technology. Other associated partners are Leipziger Messe and BMW Group Plant Leipzig.

"By bundling innovations, we want to provide further momentum for the business location, generate digitalisation knowledge and innovations for local public transport and thereby help shape the future of public mobility," says Ulf Middelberg, CEO of Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe.

The ABSOLUT II project will run until 2026 and has a total volume of around 12 million euros. The project is being funded by the BMWK on the basis of a decision by the German Parliament.