ADVERTISING
A glimpse into the future of mobility
"Auto ELF" is a fully autonomous vehicle that TU Darmstadt, together with partner universities, developed over five years in the "Unicaragil" research project. From the outside, it looks like a modern, small, stylish bus, has strongly rounded corners and is identical in design from the front and rear, and comes without a steering wheel, but with plenty of comfort and a lot of technology.
Cameras, laser scanners, radar, and ultrasonic sensors are installed throughout the vehicle. Entry is through a sliding door, and the interior resembles a cozy living room. "Auto ELF" represents five years of development. The Technical Universities of Aachen, Braunschweig, and Munich also contributed, developing various vehicle concepts. The vehicle can be used as a family car, shuttle, or taxi. To meet the diverse needs of different user generations, the developers created three user interfaces: a standard interface, one for seniors, and even one for children. The latter aimed to determine how easily children could use the vehicle and under what circumstances parents would allow their children to drive alone. Furthermore, the vehicle entrance was equipped with a lift to enable people with mobility impairments to enter without assistance. In the future, the car will only feature a tablet and no physical controls. A wireless emergency transmitter allows the vehicle to be stopped remotely in an emergency.
The turquoise seats, fold-out tablets, and wall-mounted screens are particularly striking. However, there's no driver's seat, accelerator pedal, or even a steering wheel. This prototype offers a glimpse into a possible future of mobility. Four pillars mounted on the exterior at each corner are especially noticeable. These so-called sensor modules enable the vehicle to perceive its entire surroundings. Each of the four modules combines various cameras, radar, and lidar sensors. They are the fundamental requirement for the "Auto ELF" to drive completely autonomously. Driver intervention is not intended. This allows the occupants to completely relax, read a book, or watch a series. Researchers report that this is still unusual for many, but most will get used to it over time. Part of the process is testing how driving without any intervention is received. The fact that the car can park parallel to the road thanks to adjustable wheels is certainly an advantage.
However, it will be quite some time before everyone can be picked up by the vehicle in the morning or drive the family version to the shops at speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour. The prototypes are not intended for mass production. The models are simply too expensive for that. In any case, the effort required to obtain road approval for the vehicle is too great to take the risk, the scientists report. However, tests in which the car had to react to various conditions make them optimistic that they have laid the foundation for a potentially more comfortable form of individual mobility in the future.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a total of 32 million euros, of which TU Darmstadt is contributing three million euros. Members of the consortium are: RWTH Aachen University, TU Braunschweig, TU Darmstadt, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, TU Munich, University of Stuttgart, University of Passau, and University of Ulm, as well as the industrial partners ATLATEC GmbH, flyXdrive GmbH, iMAR Navigation GmbH, IPG Automotive GmbH, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, and VIRES Simulationstechnologie GmbH.
