+49 (0) 421 9600-10
30 July 2019 - Jann Raveling

Autonomous driving in Bremen-Borgfeld

Creative / Media
The test vehicle of Bremen University's AO Car research project avoids an obstacle.
The test vehicle of Bremen University's AO Car research project avoids an obstacle. © WFB/Focke Strangmann

Bremen-Borgfeld is a typical and pleasant suburb. Surrounded by farmland, it has residential areas, schools, shops and restaurants. The ideal place to live, away from the hustle and bustle of the city – or to put a self-driving car to the test.

Compared to driving on a motorway, navigating around a residential street in Borgfeld is a challenge. "Rural roads often lack clear boundaries. Sometimes there's a pavement, sometimes there are trees and bushes, sometimes there are parked cars, cycle lanes or gravel. It's very difficult for a computer to recognise all this and tell the difference," says Dr Mitja Echim.

The research fellow at Bremen University's Center for Industrial Mathematics (ZeTeM) is an expert on self-driving cars. Over the past two years, for example, he has been involved in the AO Car project, in which a self-driving VW was sent on hundreds of test drives. This experimental vehicle is also key to the follow-up project, 'OPA3L – Optimally Assisted, Highly Automated, Autonomous and Cooperative Vehicle Navigation and Localisation'. It was launched in early 2019 and will run for four years, with a total budget of €5.3 million.

Closing the mobility gap

OPA3L conducts research into cooperative, networked and autonomous driving in rural suburbs, which is still uncharted territory even for the large car manufacturers. "The drive assistance systems developed by Tesla, Mercedes and Google are already very good at navigating along motorways, but it's a very different story on rural roads. We believe there's still a lot of research to be done in this area," says Echim.

The researchers are anticipating high demand for self-driving vehicles in rural areas. Ride-hail services, for example, could shuttle people from their front doors to local public transport and back again. "We believe that the advent of self-driving cars will see car ownership fall to a lower level than today. Anything else would make little sense, as it would hardly relieve transport issues and reduce traffic jams. The future belongs to ride-hail services – just like a taxi, but without the driver," he adds.

This is what the researchers call 'vehicle on demand', a service that will open up a whole new dimension of mobility for commuters, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Heaven and earth, close together

The project team, which has more than 29 members, is taking a different route than the research departments at the large car manufacturers. The algorithms they are using to control the car in Bremen were originally developed for space exploration. "Robots and space probes have been able to autonomously navigate in space for some time now. We have taken the technology behind autonomous space vehicles and applied it to road traffic," says Echim, who manages the OPA3L project.

The goal of the research is to create uniform software environments and artificial intelligence that can be further developed for a wide range of applications. This is in contrast to the car manufacturers' research departments, which are developing algorithms for their own purposes only.

Recommended Editorial Content
If you click on "Youtube activation", the content will be loaded from Youtube and your data will be transmitted to Youtube. The service provider is located in the USA. There is no adequate level of data protection for the USA. If you do not want data to be transmitted, please do not click the button. Further information can be found in our data protection information.
Leider ist beim laden des externen Inhalts etwas schiefgelaufen.

More on this in our privacy policy.

Interdisciplinary working is the order of the day

OPA3L is also benefiting from other projects, including TOPA3S, a research platform in Bremen exploring autonomous mobility across various modes of transport, including aircraft, ships and cars.

"As a leading hub for the maritime economy and the space industry, Bremen is the ideal place for interdisciplinary working," says Echim. The working group for optimisation and optimal control led by Professor Christof Büskens plays a key role in running the OPA3L project at the Center for Industrial Mathematics.

Also involved are Bremen University's working groups for cognitive neuroinformatics and for computer graphics and virtual reality, the Armed Forces University in Munich, Chemnitz-based IAV GmbH, which is contributing three further vehicles to the project, and Munich-based Advanced Navigation Solutions – ANavS GmbH. The latter brings its expertise in the field of satellite navigation to the table. "Autonomous driving is changing the demands made of satellite navigation – it is becoming indispensable," Echim adds.

Hands on the wheel

Practical field tests with the vehicle will be starting soon, but people on the roads of Borgfeld need not worry that they might encounter a driverless car. There still has to be a person behind the wheel who can intervene in an emergency.

Andreas Gerber

Team Leader Bremeninvest

+49 (0) 421 9600-123

!moc.tsevni-nemerb[AT]rebreg

Success Stories


Startups
10 September 2024
A Space for Innovations and Ideas in Bremen City

Six years ago, Arne Stehnken was still a new founder himself; today he is part of the management team at the software company syniotec in Bremen's city centre. To make the start easier for other founders, start-ups and creative people and to offer them a place to work, network and exchange ideas, he and his company have opened a creative and innovation centre - a source of inspiration for fresh ideas in the heart of Bremen´s city centre.

Learn more
Bremen
13 September 2022
Tradition meets innovation

The federal state of Bremen is home to approximately 676,000 people on 420 square kilometres. Almost 22,000 companies provide more than 336,000 jobs. We present the strong sectors of Bremen as a business location.

learn more
Creative / Media
16 October 2020
Optimising the movement of 95,000 vehicles

Vehicles as far as the eye can see: Bremerhaven’s AutoTerminal is Germany’s largest automotive hub. A research project aims to make the transshipment process even more efficient.

Learn more