Partnership profile

Around the world, electromobility and autonomous driving determine the social and political agenda when it comes to mobility. Holistic solutions and future-oriented concepts are in demand, and the aspect of safety plays a central role in this regard. The SAFIR research alliance – initiated by Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI) – dedicates its joint expertise to this topic.

Zero-emission, quiet, self-driving – what today is still largely a dream of the future could be something to take for granted in just a few years. But when self-driving electric cars dominate the roads, one thing will be particularly important: vehicle safety. Especially when driving autonomously, it is of central importance that the technology functions smoothly and reliably. The vehicle systems must detect other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists at an early stage and immediately initiate the necessary responses.

In the service of Vision Zero 

THI has been operating a research and test centre for vehicle safety since 2016: the Center of Automotive Research on Integrated Safety Systems and Measurement Area (CARISSMA). Inspired by the BMBF’s call for proposals ‘Strong Universities of Applied Sciences – Impulse for the Region (FH-Impuls)’, the next step towards globally networked security, ‘vehicle safety 4.0’, followed at the beginning of 2017: together with around 20 partners from industry and public institutions, THI launched the research alliance SAFIR: Safety for all – Innovative Research Partnership on Global Vehicle and Road Safety Systems. The CARISSMA research facility provides the perfect infrastructure for the project, as part of which experts from industry and science work together to put Vision Zero into practice: to make roads so safe that the number of road deaths and serious injuries is reduced to zero. 

Collective expertise

SAFIR benefits from the collective automotive expertise in the cities belonging to the Europäische Metropolregion München (EMM) association, which also includes Ingolstadt. Manufacturers such as Audi, BMW and Continental, as well as successful small and medium-sized companies such as Messring, contribute their specific expertise to the research network. But supra-regional companies such as S.E.A. (Troisdorf) and Ibeo (Hamburg) are also involved. They all benefit in turn by integrating the jointly developed solutions directly into their development work – a clear competitive advantage for all participating companies.

Holistic research focuses  

In order to efficiently address the complex topic of vehicle safety, four research priorities, so-called clusters, have been defined within the framework of the SAFIR alliance.

• Cluster 1 deals with simulation-based test systems. At the heart of this is the development and optimisation of virtual vehicle tests. The aim here is to test the highly complex vehicle systems required for autonomous driving in a simpler, safer and more cost-effective way than is possible in real test scenarios.
• Cluster 2 centres on the development of test scenarios for real driving tests – after all, not all actions of autonomous vehicle systems can be simulated. In particular, interventions in the longitudinal dynamics (braking, acceleration) or lateral dynamics (steering) of a vehicle must be tested with real driving tests to ensure vehicle safety.
• Cluster 3 is dedicated to the topic global safety systems. The aim here is to link vehicle-internal safety systems and their sensors – such as automatic braking assistants (electronic stability control; ESC) and adaptive cruise control (ACC)– with each other and with data from the vehicle environment. This integration of internal and external data is intended to help identify potential risks at an early stage. This allows a suitable early response and finally accident avoidance.
• Cluster 4 researches the special safety aspects associated with electromobility. Among other things, the participants develop and test safe battery systems and solutions for their protection, for example in the event of accidents. Questions relating to the sustainable recycling of vehicle systems that potentially pose electrical, chemical and other hazards are also in focus in this context.