Europe’s largest open innovation platform STARTUP AUTOBAHN presents 40 new pilot projects at EXPO Day

As Europe’s open innovation platform STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play approaches the end of their seventh round: 27 startups working with 29 international partners on 40 new and jointly developed pilot projects will be showcased at EXPO Day in Stuttgart on February 13.

Since 2016 STARTUP AUTOBAHN has worked with 220 startups on 320 pilot projects in various areas from mobility, production, and enterprise. More than 60 innovations out of those pilot projects have already been implemented, making STARTUP AUTOBAHN Europe’s most successful innovation platform. Topics of the seventh round of pilots and ongoing implementations include future car technologies, sustainable materials, and enterprise solutions. The 29 partners of the platform are for example Daimler and Porsche from Germany, DXC Technology from the USA, Motherson from India, or Yanfeng Automotive Interiors from China.

Biomyc and Mercedes-Benz develop eco-friendly replacements in car production

Together in a pilot project, Mercedes-Benz Group Research and the Bulgarian startup Biomyc are working together to develop a custom mutilation cover from sustainable materials to be used in assembly. The project seeks to substitute unsustainable materials with a green solution, explore product innovation, and develop a better end of life solution for the mutilation cover. The concept is MoSchu 03 – a mutilation cover that can service not one, but six cars, made out of a 3D printable, industrially compostable, plant-based plastic with recycled content.

Porsche and Way Ahead Technologies seek to solve safety challenges in mobility

Porsche’s pilot project with Way Ahead Technologies of Switzerland, builds on a previous STARTUP AUTOBAHN project for the development of Augmented Reality Head-up Displays. Way Ahead tracks, maps, and visualizes real driving live and in 3D with the use of a normal 2D camera. This technology can transform the driving data into a 3D environment and generates highly accurate replay for interactive analysis. It can be used for different use cases, for instance in safety with data for predictive navigation, danger spots or lane guidance, or within gaming, allowing the player to virtually drive against real driving data.

More information about the project can be found here.

Natural Fiber Welding and Motherson pilot plant-based leather interior

Motherson is piloting a project with Natural Fiber Welding from the United States to produce a door panel trimmed with the startup’s material ‘Mirum’, a high-performance plant-based material that is an alternative to leather. The 100% natural and recyclable material has undergone a series of successful automotive tests and the team continues to work on making ‘Mirum’ a fully automotive compliant material to be used for different car interior parts for their customers.

DXC and WEM’s global exchange platform enables virtual “meetups” with the startup community

To facilitate more efficient global meetings and presentations, DXC Technology developed the “Virtual Broadcasting Platform”, a digital platform enabling business partners and customers to confer with startups in a virtual meeting room. DXC collaborated with the Dutch startup WEM.io, using their “no code platform” to develop a scalable platform that can be implemented quickly and cost effectively. Two experienced developers developed the platform in just a few days, linking together DXC’s existing local systems and the single sign-on process to ensure privacy and secure the meetings. Now DXC, customers, and startups can join together throughout the world in a private virtual meeting room to learn about new solutions and potential ways of working together.

Ottopia and T-Systems partner to make vehicle teleoperation a reality

Israeli teleoperation startup Ottopia and T-Systems have partnered to commercialize Ottopia’s patent pending technology, enabling the safe remote control of vehicles. With the goal of providing an automotive-grade platform to automotive OEMs, Tier1 suppliers, and various commercial fleet managers, teleoperation will save resources and save lives. Ottopia’s technology can be applied in a wide range of use-cases, to remotely control vehicles and machines in shipping ports, airports, mines, factories, logistics centers, and more. The same technology improves services like remote valet parking, driverless end-of-line logistics, and driverless taxis. Ottopia and T-Systems will show a first-of-its-kind product demonstration at EXPO Day, remotely driving a car in Tel Aviv all the way from Stuttgart.

Yanfeng Automotive Interiors embraces digitalization to enhance the manual assembly process with Arkite

Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI) and Arkite, a provider of Augmented Reality solutions based in Belgium, have collaborated on a system that guides assembly operators intuitively through each step of the process tailored to their personal level of experience and native language. The Human Interface Mate (HIM) monitors each step of the process and automatically gives a warning to the operator before an error occurs. Additional information is available as text or visual tutorial to continuously enhance the operator’s skills. HIM results in fewer manual corrections at the assembly line and optimal ergonomics for the operator.

Mercedes-Benz turns trash into sustainable solutions with UBQ Materials

With a nod to the circular economy, German automotive manufacturer and Israeli startup UBQ materials have paired up on a pilot to convert household trash into car parts. UBQ Materials has developed a new technology that takes waste that cannot be recycled and converts it into a new material. The project’s concept is to create car parts or packaging for the automotive industry from this eco-friendly material, significantly reducing CO2 levels in the production process and help car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz to produce more sustainably.

Circulor wants to help Mercedes-Benz to create transparency about CO2 emission

Also as part of STARTUP AUTOBAHN, Mercedes-Benz Procurement is already involved in a pilot project with the startup Circulor, to create transparency about CO2 emissions in the cobalt supply chain. The startup uses blockchain technology to track the emission of gases harmful to the climate and the proportion of secondary material along the complex supply chains of battery cell manufacturers.

Wheel.me speeds up Motherson with autonomous trolleys

In search of a more cost effective and flexible solution to shuttle work in progress between workstations in Motherson factories, startup Wheel.me and Motherson have retrofitted prototype wheels to existing trolleys. Testing out autonomous factory driving without changing the factory floor layout or trolley design, this proved a low-cost high impact approach. In tests, the trolley was loaded with parts and dispatched from one workstation to the next, approximately 30 meters along a non-straight path and successfully arrived at the desired location.

More information about the project can be found here.

Mercedes-Benz to welcome „GHOST – feel it.“ vibrations to be used in car navigation systems

Berlin startup „GHOST – feel it.“ converts complex information into vibrations that can be felt. In collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Group Research, the duo is testing out use cases for automobile implementations. For instance, „GHOST – feel it.“ technology could be used in support of voice input for navigation systems. This could mean that if a driver needs to take a turn at an intersection, a vibration would be sent to the side of the driver’s seat to inform them of the direction they need to take.

Motherson works with Moonvision to detect visual defects in production

With their sights set on improving quality in production, Motherson has been working with Moonvision, a startup that uses camera feed and customized software to detect visual defects. In the production facilities, Motherson’s parts are inspected at each step of the production line and as this is a time-consuming process subject to human error, a solution is being piloted together to improve the efficiency and overall quality. The team has already tested eight different types of defects and created three models and is working on the next phase for creation of automated process security applications via conveyer belt.

More information about the project can be found here.

Startups and Business Units present joint projects at EXPO Day on February 13

At EXPO Day, the above mentioned pilots (and many more) will be showcased onstage at the invite only conference that connects thousands of curious, open and engaged minds from entrepreneurs, leading companies, investors, and high-level politicians together in Stuttgart. Themes of the day include changing mobility for good, urban mobility, corporate innovation by collaboration and other relevant topics. A wide range of speakers will be next to the startups onstage e.g. Saeed Amidi, CEO and Founder Plug and Play Tech Center; Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management Daimler; Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport State of Baden Württemberg; Jeremy Jauncey, CEO and Founder Beautiful Destinations; Lawrence Leuschner, CEO and Co-Founder TIER Mobility, Clare Jones, Chief Commercial Officer what3words; Olivier Reppert, CEO Share Now and 30 more experts. In addition, there will be an official welcome set for the stage at EXPO Day, as STARTUP AUTOBAHN announces new additions to the platform’s cohort of corporate partners.

Event

Thursday, 13 February 2020 at 11 a.m.
Wagenhallen Stuttgart, Innerer Nordbahnhof 1
///reddish.young.ventures
70191 Stuttgart

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STARTUP AUTOBAHN | 2020-02-06 12:20 ◼︎